Era: Started from raising livestock in the mountains

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Lin's father slaughtered the pigs he had raised for a year, and a group of people came to help early in the morning.

There were still many people in the countryside in those days, and the New Year was extremely lively.

Lin Heng was naturally among the people who were slaughtering pigs. He was a man of few words, but the villagers were very friendly and talked and laughed.

Lin Heng's uncle and third uncle also came, but his uncle-in-law was also slaughtering pigs today, so he didn't come.

Because slaughtering pigs in the countryside requires a good day, there were many people slaughtering pigs today, and the three or four butchers in the village were not idle at all.

"How can you use this hot water? How much did you buy it for?"

Lu Honghai, Lin Heng's uncle, saw that Lin Heng was boiling water in a large wooden barrel directly, and asked curiously.

"It's not expensive, just two yuan." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"This is not expensive, it's too expensive, but it's very useful, I'll buy one later."

Lu Honghai said with a smile.

"I'll bring you one later."

Lin Heng said with a smile.

On the other side, the butcher saw that the water had boiled, so he asked someone to go to the back mountain to catch the pig.

Accompanied by heart-wrenching screams, the family's New Year pig was directly lifted onto the chopping board, and the butcher's exquisite technique stabbed the aorta with one knife.

The pig's blood was collected in a basin, and Lin Heng and others held it tightly. The children were covered with their eyes by the adults to prevent them from watching, and only some half-grown children stood at the gate of the yard and watched curiously.

After bleeding, they were directly lifted into a large wooden barrel, boiled in boiling water, and the stone hammer made of volcanic stone gently hit the pig hair.

Not only half an hour, a white and tender big fat pig was on the wooden barrel, with four legs facing the ground, lying there upright.

The pig's back was cut open, and a wine cup was put in it, with rice, pig money and paper burning, and a string of firecrackers was set off. This was not only to worship the gods and ancestors, but also to celebrate the harvest, hoping that the pigs would still be willing to eat and grow next year, and not have any problems.

Then it was weighed. The pig that Lin's mother had fed for a year was not small, weighing more than 230 kilograms.

After weighing, it was the dissection that everyone liked to see. With the same technique as the butcher butchering a cow, the big fat pig was quickly divided into small pieces.

People of all ages gathered in the yard, all watching the cutting, and occasionally saying some flattering words.

In this era, killing the New Year pig was also a big hope for the men, women, old and young in the village, because this day was one of the few days when they could eat meat to their heart's content.

When seeing the pig being slaughtered, everyone was full of joy and was very enthusiastic to help.

After the pig was slaughtered, except for some left to eat fresh during the New Year, the rest were all rubbed with salt, marinated overnight, and then smoked on the stove to make bacon. Generally speaking, this was the meat for the whole family for the next year.

In this era, a rural family had at least five people, and there was only one pig a year. A large part of it had to be eaten to entertain guests during the New Year, and the bacon left in the end might be only 160 to 170 kilograms.

Five or six people can only eat this little meat for the next year, which is really not much.

This is still considered a wealthy family. Some families don’t have so much food to feed pigs. A pig has to be fed for two years, and the meat is even more precious.

There are many families who feed a pig for two years. After all, people have to eat cornmeal, and pigs have even less nutrition.

"It's time to eat!!"

With a call, everyone went into the house, waiting to eat meat.

The Lin family invited many people today, and with the people from their own family, the number of people reached as many as 23.

Therefore, two tables were set up, one for men who like to drink, and one for women and children. A large pot of fried lean meat with hot and sour sauce was served in the middle of the two tables.

Lin Heng naturally sat at the adult table. After drinking two sips of wine, his goal was on the meat, and the same was true for others.

This fresh pork tastes much better than bacon, fragrant and chewy. In the past, he was most looking forward to this day.

This year, he was not so excited, but just thought it tasted good.

After drinking two glasses of wine, Lin Heng stopped serving. The butcher next to him smiled and said, "Boss Lin, have two more glasses. That's not much. Don't spoil everyone's fun."

"I've had enough. My dad is here to accompany you." Lin Heng waved his hand and said.

"That's outrageous. Your dad is drinking, why don't you drink?"

This man likes to persuade people to drink. He held up the wine pot to get Lin Heng to drink more.

"I'm eating."

Lin Heng smiled slightly and got up to eat.

He drinks casually. Even if you are a great immortal, he won't drink if he says he doesn't want to drink.

The butcher felt a little embarrassed and could only shake his head: "Young people can't talk to us."

Then he poured wine for others, and Lin's father explained to him that Lin Heng couldn't drink and so on.

Everyone drank happily, and no one seemed to care.

When Lin Heng was eating, his mother brought steamed meat. This was a unique steamed meat made of cornmeal and fat slices, which was loved by the older generation in the countryside. For Lin Heng, it was too greasy and he had no appetite at all.

After breakfast, everyone rested for a while and went to Lin Yue's house to kill pigs. Many people took the opportunity to go to Lin Heng's house to see the three-wheeled motorcycle he bought, and talked about it while watching, envious.

Lin Heng was not in the house, and took Xiaoxia for a walk on the road. Xiulan took the opportunity to go out and locked the door.

After his eldest brother Lin Yue's pig was killed, it was already more than two o'clock in the afternoon. The butcher left in a hurry. He had another pig to kill today.

"Which couplet do you think is good?"

In the study, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and asked.

After killing the pig, there was nothing to do, so the two of them cut the red paper and started writing couplets.

The brush, inkstone, ink block and other things must have been bought last time they went to the city.

Xiulan wore a red cotton jacket with plum blossoms printed on it, her hair tied into a ponytail from her left shoulder, and sat on the newly made official hat chair next to her to grind ink for Lin Heng.

Hearing Lin Heng's question, she looked up at the collection of spring couplets that Lin Heng had opened, which contained various spring couplets.

Lin Heng didn't care about it, it all depended on how she chose.

His family had four gates, so he needed four couplets. The characters on the couplets were not uncommon, and Xiulan knew them all.

"These four." Xiulan chose four couplets with seven characters, which sounded simple.

Lin Heng folded the red paper for the couplets into seven grids, brewed for a while and started writing. The first one was used on the front gate.

The upper couplet was full of blessings and the spring air was warm, the lower couplet was the source of the clear stream and the years were new, and the horizontal banner was to welcome the new year.

When Lin Heng was writing, Xiaoxia also ran over to watch, very curious. Lin Heng's hands were shaking a little when he was watched by his wife and daughter, but he had practiced regular script for a long time after all, so he wrote it down very smoothly.

"It looks good, very neat."

Xiulan praised Lin Heng immediately after seeing him finish writing.

She was not lying, but Lin Heng's handwriting was not worse than that of the village party secretary and several other people who often wrote couplets in the village. It was neat and beautiful.

Xiaoxia didn't quite understand, but she also became a member of the praise team: "It looks good, it's really good."

Lin Heng laughed, his confidence increased, and he finished the remaining three couplets in one breath. He put the couplets on the ground to dry, and when he was about to write some blessing characters, he heard his father and eldest brother shouting outside.

"I'll go open the door."

Xiulan stopped grinding ink and turned to go out to open the door.

After a while, Lin Heng saw his father and eldest brother coming in with meat.

Xiulan said on the side: "I said we have meat at home, and my father and elder brother insisted on bringing some over."

"Your meat has been made into bacon, which is fresh. Besides, if you don't eat it, your mother Caiyun and I can't finish it." Lin's father said with a smile.

"You said that we don't have to be polite to each other." Lin Yue also said with a smile.

They each took two porks, one weighed more than ten pounds, and two weighed almost thirty pounds.

"Don't worry, I won't be polite." Lin Heng said with a smile. There was no need to be polite with his family. He took the meat directly.

His elder brother and father were very happy with Lin Heng's attitude.

Lin Yue saw Lin Heng's couplets and was surprised: "Brother, did you write this?"

Lin Heng was a little happy: "Of course, the ink hasn't dried yet. How about I write a few for you?"

"Of course, brother, you write this couplet well, the words are pretty beautiful."

"It's almost the same as the village party secretary's handwriting." Lin's father also gave affirmation.

Lin Heng asked them to pick a few couplets from the collection, and then he and Xiulan cut the couplet paper. Xiulan ground the ink and Lin Heng started writing. Lin's father and eldest brother watched from a distance, and soon a couplet was finished.

"Not bad, not bad."

"It looks good!"

Lin Yue and his father praised while helping to take the couplet away to dry.

After a while, Lin Heng finished writing the couplet and also wrote some blessing characters.

While warming up by the brazier, Lin's father suggested that everyone have a reunion dinner in the old house, and Lin Heng and his eldest brother agreed without hesitation.

Lin Heng said directly: "How about this, Dad, you can just merge with us during the New Year, eat here every day, and sleep in the old house."

"Yes, it's easier to arrange for guests this way." Xiulan also said with a smile.

Lin Yue shook his head and said, "No, let's have a meal together."

Father Lin was so happy to see his two sons competing to let him go to his house, but he shook his head seriously and said, "It's better for you to come and eat."

After a pause, he smiled and said, "We'll talk about it later. It doesn't matter whose house it is, but you have to go to eat tonight. Your mother has prepared the meal."

"Okay." Lin Heng agreed immediately without hesitation.

After putting away the dried couplets and feeding the livestock and pets at home, Lin Heng took Xiaoxia and Xiulan to eat.

The next day, on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Lin Heng drove a sidecar motorcycle and took Xiulan and Xiaoxia to the town.

The second to last market day at the end of the year was extremely lively. It was crowded with people. At a glance, it was full of densely packed heads.

Lin Heng parked the car in front of the store. Xiaoxia also asked Wang Zhou to watch over it, and then he went shopping with Xiulan.

Today, they went to the street and bought mainly pig heads, large intestines, small intestines, and pig stomachs. There were also people selling mutton and beef on the street, so they bought some as well. Finally, they bought some fruits and candies. They didn’t lack anything else and had already bought almost everything.

Fireworks and other things were available in their own store, so they didn’t need to buy them.

After buying things, it was only ten o’clock. Lin Heng knew this would happen, so he took a fishing rod.

He took Xiulan and Xiaoxia to the river to fish. Today was a rare day with sunshine, and the river was quite warm. The green grass on the riverbed in winter was withered and yellow.

“Can you really catch it?”

Xiulan touched the water and was a little confused.

Lin Heng nodded confidently: “Of course you can, I’ll do it for you, you just need to cast the rod and lift it.”

He first took out the homemade rice wine and made a small nest. This rice wine was very expensive, using honey, white wine, white sugar and many other things. Xiulan said that it was better for fish than for people.

It’s a good thing it was Xiulan, because if his mother saw him destroying things like this, she would have beaten him.

Xiulan nodded. If Lin Heng wanted to fish, she would accompany him. However, she was not ready to take action. She pointed at Xiaoxia and said, "Then you can fish. I'm looking at Xiaoxia. The water is deep in the river."

Lin Heng didn't force it, so he beat some wine and rice, hung earthworms on two purple bamboo fishing poles, threw them into the water and waited.

While waiting for half an hour to make their nest, the three of them sat on a big black stone by the river to bask in the sun. When it was almost done, Lin Heng went to start fishing. Xiulan took Xiaoxia and sat beside them to watch.

It's a pity that there are very few fishermen on this river. Otherwise, I would be extremely envious when I see this scene. It would be impossible for my wife to accompany him fishing.

However, the fish today did not show any respect. Lin Hengtou fished for half an hour, but there was no movement at all.

"I'll try somewhere else."

Lin Heng had already guessed that this might happen and made three nests.

After teasing the second nest for a while, he saw the mouth, and a small crucian carp flew up directly from him.

"I said you can catch it, right?" Lin Heng turned around and smiled.

"Not bad, but not as big as the one you caught last time." Xiulan took the bucket of fish over, put the fish in and put it aside for Xiaoxia to see.

"Little fish!"

Xiaoxia held a reed and teased the small fish in the water.

"There will be a big one soon."

Lin Heng was full of confidence. In this day and age, fishing only requires good hands?

However, in the next half hour, he only caught six small crucian carp, two ounces in size, which made him doubt his life.

But he didn't care. He looked at Xiulan's boredom and said with a smile: "Honey, come and play."

"Just play, I'm picking up stones." Xiulan shook a small, round stone in her hand.

Lin Heng pulled her over and said with a smile: "Come on, you play, I'm tired."

Being held up by Lin Heng, Xiulan had no choice but to take over the fishing rod and experience this game that she had never played before.

"Dad, I also want to fish."

When Xiaoxia saw her mother going to play, she also shouted to play and acted coquettishly with Lin Heng.

"Okay, okay, you come and play too, but you can't go to the river."

Lin Heng gave her another purple bamboo fishing rod.

"good."

Xiaoxia nodded seriously and looked at the water.

Lin Heng replaced Xiulan and Xiaoxia's fishhook with new earthworms, then watched and taught them how to fish.

After about three minutes, there was still no movement on Xiulan's side, and the fishing line on Xiaoxia's side was pulled into the water a lot.

"The fish is on, Xiaoxia!"

Lin Heng said something, held Xiaoxia's hand and completed the action of stabbing the fish.

"Fish, big fish fish!!"

Xiaoxia ran back excitedly while lifting the pole. After a while, a small crucian carp was pulled out of the water by her and rolled on the water.

Lin Heng pulled the fishing line and took out the crucian carp. Xiaoxia looked at it several times, then urged Lin Heng: "Dad, we still want to fish!"

The little fisherman has fallen in love with the sport of fishing and was shocked by this tiny fish.