Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 140 Express gratitude with love【6.6k】

"Come on, let's go up and have a look."

After taking a look at Xiongba, Lin Heng went ashore and walked upstream.

"Ow~"

Xiong Ba found a place far away from Lin Heng and swung the water, then ran after him.

"Help!"

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

Jin Haizheng was sitting on the edge of the water, with a snake biting his ankle. The cry for help was made by his sister Jin Yan.

"Lin Heng, help, help my brother, she was bitten by a water snake." Jin Yan saw Lin Heng calling for help quickly, with a look of anxiety on her face. She was afraid of snakes and did not dare to get close.

Jin Hai, a man, also looked pale and trembling all over, and he didn't even dare to look at his feet.

"Water snakes are not poisonous. Are you afraid of being like this?" Lin Heng glanced at Jin Hai. This kid is usually very crazy, but he is afraid of being like this when encountering a snake.

"No...not poisonous??" Jin Hai was stunned for a moment and glanced at the snake on his feet, but his whole body was still weak.

Jin Yan next to her was also stunned. She burst into tears. Are you telling me that water snakes are not poisonous?
  "What's wrong?" Yang Zhaotao, who was working in the fields, ran over.

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

Freshwater water snakes make a living by fishing, but their fancy patterns make people scared. Some people also say that water snakes are highly venomous. He had opened the mouth and looked at it, and there were no fangs at all.

Yang Zhaotao took a look and said with a smile: "There is nothing to be afraid of. This thing is not poisonous."

He walked over to take a look and said with a smile: "You have crushed the water snake, it will definitely not let go."

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

Not long after, Jin Hai and Jin Yan also appeared behind them. 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 from now on.

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

Her clothes were wet with water and she looked a little pitiful.

"I didn't help, so there's no need to thank me." Lin Heng waved his hand.

After saying that, he left and returned home. He led Hong Zao to the newly built horse pen, which was covered with some straw and chopped horse straw and corn leaves.

Xiulan spent the whole day playing with Xiaoxia at home, because she had her period these two days, and Lin Heng didn't want her to be tired.

"Have you finished bathing Hong Zao and Xiong Ba?" Xiulan asked when she saw him.

"It's done. The boiling water is gone. I'll boil some boiling water." Lin Heng nodded, picked up the hot water kettle, and poured the remaining hot water into a cup for his wife.

"Why didn't you put brown sugar? Is it gone at home?" Lin Heng asked curiously, looking at the red dates soaked in the cup.

"I thought it was there, but it's gone, so it's not a big deal." Xiulan shook her head softly.

Lin Heng said with a smile: "It's okay, Tianzhan is getting old, so I'll make some brown sugar for you."

The so-called sweet sorghum is sweet sorghum. They grow it here to make wine. Just like the sugar cane grown in the south, the sweet sorghum stalks are also sweet, and they eat them as sugar cane.

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

"Soon, just wait for me at home." Lin Heng said, and ran out with the hatchet.

After going to his sweet stalk field, Lin Heng picked up the sweet stalks with red sorghum tops and chopped ten stalks, weighing about forty or fifty kilograms.

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

"If you don't have any tools, just find one."

Lin Heng smiled slightly, and he removed the outer skin of the sweet stick one by one, leaving the watery and sugary core inside. This was the same sweet stick core they ate when they were children.

After everything was taken care of, he found a stone mortar and put the sweet stems in and pounded them bit by bit.

If you often make your own brown sugar, you will have a sugar cart and a sugar bed, similar to the ones used to press dough. It is very labor-saving to use the lever principle.

If not, it’s not impossible to make it, as long as you can mash the sweet stems to release the juice.

The mashed sweet straw residue and juice are all poured onto the tofu cloth, and the greenish turbid sugar water is precipitated by squeezing.

After finishing them all, Lin Heng felt that it was not enough, so he chopped off fifteen more sticks. It took him an hour to pound them, and he got about two large pots of twenty kilograms of concentrated sweet stick juice.

From half past four to six o'clock, Lin Heng cleaned the pot, poured the sweet stick juice in and started cooking.

Letting the sweet stem juice in the pot simmer first, Lin Heng went out to chop two bamboos and came back, sawed ten bamboo tubes, and filled them with brown sugar.

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

But I just want to make brown sugar for my wife with my own hands, and I don’t have any other ideas.

Xiulan had been watching, quietly watching him work while taking her daughter.

Dried acorn firewood was placed in the pot, and the fire was burning brightly. As the juice boils, the color of the sweet stem in the pot quickly changes from turbid light green to dark red. Once some foam floats on the surface, it needs to be scooped out.

As it continues to bubble and boil, the water gradually evaporates. The fire in the pot was also very high, and after half an hour, almost all the water had evaporated. Lin Heng turned off the fire, leaving only the burnt charcoal.

Using chopsticks, he kept stirring the little dark red liquid remaining at the bottom of the pot. It started as big bubbles and quickly turned into dense small bubbles.

At this time, it basically contained no water. Lin Heng dipped a little sugar liquid in it and froze it in cold water, and the sugar liquid became extremely hard. This shows that the sugar liquid in the pot has cooled to this extent.

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

When the sugar solution was almost too full to scoop up, Lin Heng brought boiling water, poured it in, and diluted it into sugar water again.

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

After getting the brown sugar in the pot, Lin Heng froze the bamboo tube in the water, and then went to clean the ground stained by making the brown sugar.

When he came out and Xiulan had already cleaned up, Lin Heng poured the sweet stick residue into the pig badger pen and fed it to the pig badgers.

After all this was done, I had time to sit down and rest.

"As for it, it's so tiring." Xiulan handed over a towel and said helplessly.

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

With that said, he got up and went to change the cold water for the bamboo. After a few times, the brown sugar was completely solidified.

Xiulan felt warm in her heart when she saw Lin Heng busy in front of her. If relatives hadn't come here, she would have really wanted to hug him and thank him.

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

Ten pieces of brown sugar in ten bamboo tubes, Lin Heng weighed it on a scale, and it was only one pound or two. The sugar yield rate was really low.

"My wife, here it is for you!"

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

"Thanks husband!"

Xiulan blinked and looked at him, her bright eyes filled with endless tenderness.

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

"Mom, I want to eat too!"

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

"Your father made this 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, and looked at Lin Heng with big eyes full of prayer.

Lin Heng spread his hands and said, "I gave everything to your mother."

"Mom~"

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

The light red porridge is full of sweetness and makes you want to eat it when you smell it.

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

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

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

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

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

Not long after finishing eating, the food at the eldest brother's side was ready, so Lin Heng went directly with his wife and children.

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

Except for the lack of matsutake and black truffles, there are fried rock groupers and stir-fried eels, as well as fried meat with broom mushrooms, which Lin Heng loves to eat.

The crispy deep-fried creek grouper is so fragrant. You and I were finished one by one in no time. My eldest brother’s whole pot was eaten.

There's nothing much going on these days, everyone is chatting and eating, it's very leisurely.

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

"It's August 14th. I'll go there for a day and come back on the 16th. I'm going to get a wooden cart for the horses to pull and walk slowly over." Lin Heng replied after taking a bite of the mushrooms.

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

In this era when there was no traffic, the distance between the two counties was so far that I never had the chance to go back after getting married.

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

These things are definitely considered a big gift, adding up to almost fifty yuan. In this era, giving a pack of sugar as a gift is considered a big gift. Not to mention rural areas, even in the city, you may not be able to give so much when you meet your father-in-law for the first time.

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

"You don't have to be in a hurry to come back. You can play with Xiulan in your hometown for a while. Your mother and I will take care of the animals and everything in the house." Father Lin also said.

The eldest brother Lin Yue also said: "Yes, you can play with Xiulan for a few more days, and there is no need to worry at home."

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded in agreement.

Then Lin's mother took Xiulan and said something from her heart. When Lin Heng and Xiulan got married, the family arranged it rather hastily. Xiulan didn't ask for bracelets or rings, let alone a four-piece wedding set.

Xiulan smiled and responded to Lin's mother. There was nothing to say about the past. She did it voluntarily, and Lin Heng's presence was enough.

My eldest brother’s house made pickled cabbage noodles in the evening, but they were not too sour or salty enough. I poured some stir-fried pork with mushrooms into it, and it immediately became much more delicious. I ate a bowl and a half of it.

After dinner, Lin Heng took his wife and daughter back home and boiled hot water for Xiulan to wash her feet. The kettle was also filled to ensure that Xiulan had enough hot water if she wanted to drink it at night.

By the time she coaxed her daughter to sleep by reading, Xiulan had also fallen asleep.

Lin Heng looked at his sleeping wife. Xiulan had nothing wrong now and was in good health. When I gave birth to my second and third sons in my previous life, I didn't take good care of my confinement, and later on I suffered from a lot of illnesses.

After covering her with the quilt, Lin Heng lay down and fell asleep.

When he woke up in the morning, Lin Heng found that she had leaned next to him, sleeping with her little face on 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 leisurely. When she looked at Lin Heng, she suddenly showed a tender smile, blinked and asked, "How long have you been awake?"

Lin Heng shook his head: "It didn't take long." "I don't believe it." Xiulan lay in his arms, feeling a little cold in her stomach.

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

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

Lin Heng nodded helplessly, holding a beautiful wife like this. He had eaten a lot of eels in the past two days, which was really hard to bear.

Xiulan seemed to have discovered this problem, and after hugging him for a while, she let him go.

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

When I returned home to prepare for cooking, I saw Jinbao slurpingly eating, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a mouse.

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

When making rice in the morning, he didn't plan to fry anything difficult, just stir-fried green beans, braised eggplant, and egg yolk soup.

The mushrooms have been dried, so he didn't fry them today.

"Today's food is very good!" When Xiulan got up, she looked at the table of food and praised.

Picking up her chopsticks and taking a bite of the braised eggplant, she immediately fell in love with it even more: "This braised eggplant is so delicious!"

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

Lin Heng first held Xiaoxia and fed her. She loved the egg yolk soup with black truffles so much that she drank a small bowl and kept drinking.

After finishing the meal, Xiulan said with a smile: "I think the food you cooked is more delicious than what I cooked."

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

"Okay!" Xiulan drank the brown sugar water and nodded.

After dinner, Lin Heng finished washing the dishes, then went to the back mountain to bring back some firewood left over from the previous construction of the horse pen and stack it under the eaves.

Father Lin and the others all went to the mountains to pick up Schisandra chinensis. Lin Heng stayed at home to take care of Xiulan and waited for them to come back and take some to eat at the night market.

After getting the firewood, Lin Heng fed the animals again, scooped out the horse manure from the horse pen and piled it aside for composting and fermentation, fed the chickens and ducks at home, beat some pigweed in front of the door, and picked some lotus seeds from the lotus root field. .

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

Needless to say, the taste after stewing was sweet and delicious. Xiaoxia even ate two big bowls.

On the [-]th day of the eighth lunar month, Xiulan's relatives gradually left, and Father Lin and the others were no longer able to pick Schisandra chinensis, so they all came back.

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

A circle of wooden boards was nailed across the outside to make the wall. The roof was also made of all wooden boards nailed together. Finally, a waterproof gray tarpaulin was nailed.

After all the wooden boards are nailed, draw the positions of the doors and windows, turn on the diesel saw and cut along the lines, and then nail the door frames and window frames to reinforce them. This small, boxy house is initially built.

"It still looks pretty." Lin Heng said with a smile. Although the wooden board was not smooth enough, it was still pretty.

Because he was using a wet wooden board, he would not apply tung oil or paint for the time being. He would wait until the board was dry in two months before painting. He planned to go to the city to buy some better waterproof paint and paint it dark brown.

"Don't tell me, this kind of wooden house seems to be better than the earth house, but it is not safe for fear of fire." Father Lin said with a smile.

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

"No, Xiulan and I will go back to my parents' house tomorrow. Let's do it slowly when we get back." Lin Heng shook his head.

That's it for now, the rest of the later stages will be slowly improved, so there's no rush for this moment.

The overall frame of the house is now up, and it can protect it from wind and rain. However, another layer of wooden boards needs to be nailed inside, and some fireproof cotton or foam board should be filled in the sandwich between the inner and outer wooden boards. Otherwise, this house will not be inhabited in winter. .

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

Just like building in the wilderness, take your time and you will get it done.

It would be boring to ask a bunch of people to do it all at once.

Lin Yue patted his head and said, "Oh, yes, I forgot that today is already August [-]th."

"And I'll do the rest slowly. It's not that troublesome." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"Then go back, it's getting late." Father Lin nodded and said.

Taking the tools, the three of them 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 land had turned into two ponds. The disinfection has been completed, and now they are filled with water. From a distance, they look like two small mirrors.

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

After all these crops are harvested, Lin Heng is ready to continue digging fish ponds.

After returning home, Lin Heng took a towel and went to the river to take a bath with his elder brother. They soaked for a while and swam a few times. They felt very refreshed.

When Lin Heng returned to the house, Xiulan smiled and said, "The rice is ready. Try it to see if it's delicious."

"That must be because my wife is good at her craftsmanship." Lin Heng chuckled.

After finishing the meal and enjoying the cool weather for a while, Xiaoxia read a story loudly.

"Okay, okay, let me read you a story." Lin Heng carried her to the bed.

After reading a story for a long time, he put her to sleep. After pulling the small opaque mosquito net over her, Lin Heng went to wash her feet and went to bed.

Xiulan, who had already washed up and went to bed, took the initiative to lean next to him, her slender legs covered with the white silk that Lin Heng liked.

"Wife!" Lin Heng was a little surprised.

"Stop talking!" Xiulan hugged his neck and kissed him.

The man who took good care of her for so many days deserves her deep gratitude.

Xiulan used Lin Heng's favorite way to express her passionate love for him.

……

……

On the morning of August [-]th, Lin Heng and his 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 Changbai City, and it might take half a day longer to take a carriage.

There is no way, the road is not easy to travel, and the horse-drawn cart is still used, but it can't compare with the car.

Lin Heng didn't change his clothes. He first made a large bowl of corn paste and went to the back mountain to feed red dates.

While it was drinking corn mush, Lin Heng took a look at it. It was a little dirty after not being washed for two days.

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

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

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

"You take the horse to the road and leave the wooden carriage to us." Father Lin said.

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded.

As he pulled the horse out on the road, his elder brother replenished the air in the wheels, installed them under the wooden cart, and then pushed them out together with Father Lin.

This is his family's own wooden cart. In order to make it easier for people to sit on it, it has been modified in the past two days. The height of the cart has been increased by fifty centimeters, and the inside is filled with woven straw mats.

There are also some handrails on the truck bed.

Pushing the wooden cart onto the road, Lin Heng and the other three began to put on the horse's lead and reins. These are available in rural areas, and they can be done even without themselves.

This time the journey was quite long, so Lin Heng also took good protective measures for the jujube to prevent its body from being worn out.

After putting it on and trying it on 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 looking like a royal sister.

Xiaoxia was also dressed neatly, like a little fairy.

"Just wear this." After Lin Heng washed his hair, Xiulan found clothes for her.

White round neck short sleeves, black trousers, and a pair of sneakers, very simple and very handsome.

In addition, Xiulan also brought a change of clothes for one person.

"Okay, let's go." He looked at Lin Heng and nodded with satisfaction, with a smile on his face.

"Okay." Lin Heng picked up Xiaoxia, who hadn't quite woken up yet. It was only half past five and the sun was just getting bright.

Xiulan followed Lin Heng out carrying large and small bags.

"Wang Wang~"

Xiongba realized that Lin Heng and Xiulan were going on a long trip, so he dragged the chain over and rubbed against the two of them, wanting to be together.

"Just stay home and look after the house. It's too far away and it's not suitable." Lin Heng touched the dog's head, turned around and left.

We made an agreement with our parents yesterday that they would come over regularly to feed the animals at home.

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

"Why are you still holding a bow, arrow and dagger?" Father Lin was stunned when he looked at the thing.

"It's not safe on the road, and if you encounter a pheasant, you can still shoot it." Lin Heng said with a smile. He always has something to protect himself when going out.

"Okay, please be safe. Play for a few more days and don't be in a hurry to come back." Father Lin looked at Xiulan and said.

"I know, dad, let's go." Xiulan smiled and nodded.

"Let's go." Lin Heng said, then hit the red dates with a whip, and the carriage suddenly started to move.

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

If the sun is too strong at noon, you can only seek shelter in a cool place.

But if you go faster, you should be able to get there before noon.

They are more than [-] kilometers away from Lushui County. Hongzao drives at the minimum speed of [-] kilometers per hour, and can get there in about four or five hours.

The premise is that we don't encounter any accidents, such as a road collapse or something like that.

Xiulan hugged Xiaoxia and looked at the scenery along the way with emotion. She didn't recognize the road after leaving Huangtan Town. She hadn't left 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 she is the youngest.

Her parents are also much older than Lin Heng's parents, and are now over fifty.

Apart from her parents, the two people who treat her best are her eldest brother and her third brother. The second sister doesn't know why she has disliked her since she was a child and often bullies her. The fourth brother treats her just average.

When she left, her eldest brother had just gotten married, and her eldest sister-in-law didn't like her either, and wanted her to get married as soon as possible so as not to have free money.

Her second sister married very young, a year or two before her eldest brother. Now I just don’t know if her third brother and fourth brother are married.

She didn't know what was going on at home now, and she felt a little uneasy, so much so that she didn't speak much along the way.

But when she saw the man driving the car in front of her, her heart felt warm again. No matter what the situation is at home, she always has him to rely on.

Lin Heng concentrated on driving the horse all the way, chatting with Xiulan from time to time, and not having too many thoughts in his mind.

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  PS: Friends, I’m really sorry. I only have [-] words today. I’ve been a bit stuck in the past two days. As a result, my neighbor was busy playing gongs and drums. I really couldn’t concentrate on typing, so I just wrote this. many.

(End of this chapter)