Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 205 Sudden News

After entering the house to warm up for a while, the two took grain and bean dregs to feed the livestock.

Lin Heng fed the last bit of bean dregs to the female forest musk deer, and then returned to the house with a bundle of half-dried twigs. Although the wood is not completely dry, it is no problem for burning.

There are a lot of lotus roots that Xiulan has washed in the kitchen, and the lotus root powder he made yesterday has also precipitated. He only needs to dry it in the sun before drinking it.

The taste of lotus root starch is better than that of kudzu root starch, and the effects of drinking it are also different.

Xiulan started cooking. Lin Heng glanced at the snowflakes still flying outside, went to the back mountain and took two dry maple logs with a diameter of 30 and a half centimeters and brought them into the house.

Seeing him come back from getting wood, Xiulan, who was cooking in the kitchen, asked curiously: "What are you going to do?"

Lin Heng smiled slightly and said, "I probably won't be able to go out today. I just took the time to make a wooden horse out of wood for Xiaoxia to play with."

This thing is simple to make, and he can easily make it without drawings.

Hearing this, Xiulan smiled slightly: "Just pamper her."

After the tree bark was peeled off and Xiulan's rice was almost done, Lin Heng went to wake Xiaoxia up, dress her and wash her, and then the family of three had breakfast together.

Lin Heng smiled slightly. He knew that his father was someone who couldn't take any time off.

Every morning you can see thick white smoke rising from some hills, which is the smoke coming from the charcoal kiln.

"Then you burn slowly."

The snow stopped falling early the next morning, but it was completely white outside, with more than ten centimeters of snow accumulated on the ground. It had obviously fallen all night.

Jinbao is now a bit bigger than the average civet cat, with golden-red hair. Sitting there slumped there, he is about the same size as Xiaoxia, giving him the feeling of a bobcat.

After making a charcoal fire, Xiulan watched Xiaoxia knit a sweater while Xiaoxia played with Xiongba and Jinbao with toys.

"You really can't take any time off."

In this era, the villagers here would burn charcoal every winter, not only for their own use, but also for selling it to make money, which was also a source of income.

Lin Heng placed the wood on the 'horse's foot' and peeled off the bark with a knife, revealing the light yellow wood inside.

Lin Heng told Xiaoxia everything about making a Trojan horse.

The Lin family is now rich, and there is no need to burn charcoal, but Lin's eldest brother is obviously someone who can't sit still.

"What did you come here for?" Lin's father asked. He knew that Lin Heng could not have come here to go up the mountain with them.

Lin Yue responded with a smile: "Go and burn charcoal. Even if you don't sell it, you can use it at home."

I learned that Father Lin and the others had sawed nearly a thousand acorn trees today and were preparing to burn charcoal tomorrow if the snow was not heavy.

"That's fine."

It was already past five o'clock in the blink of an eye, and it was getting dark. Lin Heng felt a little embarrassed looking at the wooden horse that he had carved in front of him for a whole day.

He used a wooden pusher to smooth out the boards cut by his father, then used fixed-point circles to make two lone guide rails, and made some rungs. He spent a morning working on the arc base and legs of the wooden horse. All made.

When Lin Heng looked at his mother, he obviously wanted to go to the mountain to burn charcoal together.

Father Lin lamented: "Actually, I only wanted to burn charcoal with a chain saw. This thing is so fast. I can finish the work that took ten days in one day."

After chatting for a few words, he went back home and continued making the wooden horse. He didn't stop to tell Xiaoxia a story until she was about to take a rest.

After going to bed, Xiulan rested next to him as always. The two lingered for a while, then slowly fell asleep.

It always had a very cold attitude toward Lin Heng. It would only come over and nuzzle Lin Heng when he had something to eat.

Jinbao has a pretty good personality. Although he doesn't cut his nails, he never stretches out his paws when playing with Xiaoxia. When he is teased, he puts his mouth around her little hand and has no intention of biting it.

Lin Heng didn't come with him. He was really not interested in such heavy snow.

After half a day's hard work yesterday, the rough outline has now come out. It doesn't look pretty, it's even a little ugly, but at least it looks like a horse.

It takes him two or three minutes to chop down a tree, but it only takes five seconds with a chain saw, which is much more efficient. The originally tiring work of burning charcoal is now very easy with a chain saw.

But it is too lazy. Apart from playing with Xiaoxia, it takes naps and sleeps. It is only active when eating.

Father Lin did not refuse. He turned around and got some tools for Lin Heng. He then took the chain saw to open some boards for Lin Heng and then took his eldest son Lin Yue and his wife Lu Hongmei up the mountain.

But it had already come to this point, and he could only continue. Xiulan went to make dinner while he continued carving the wooden horse.

Father Lin also nodded: "Yes, there is nothing to do these days anyway. It just so happens that the previous charcoal kiln has not collapsed and can be used directly."

After the exercise, Xiulan went to cook as usual, and Lin Heng continued carving his wooden horse.

Snowy mornings are always quiet, even the sparrows that always chirp are gone. Exercising with Xiulan in such heavy snow feels like two people dancing together, as if every move is in response to each other.

Breakfast was relatively simple sauerkraut noodles, but it tasted good. After eating, the snow outside did not stop, and Lin Heng was ready to continue his work.

Originally, the body of the wooden horse could be made simply from wooden boards, but Lin Heng felt that it would not demonstrate his skills, so he decided to use a section of maple wood to carve a horse body and head similar to the real one.

Lin Heng was doing carpentry work with his head down, and would say a few words to Xiulan from time to time.

Lin Heng looked at his father and said, "When you go up the mountain, help me open some boards first, and then lend me the wood chisel and pusher."

He ran to his father to borrow carpenter tools. When he saw his father and elder brother taking a chain saw and an ax and preparing to go up the mountain, he couldn't help but curious: "Dad, elder brother, what are you going to do?"

Xiulan is very obedient. Sometimes she will sleep on its lap and let her caress her. Sometimes when she is in a good mood, she will catch a mouse and bring it back to show off her skills.

After dinner, he went to his father to get some carpenter tools and asked about their situation.

The snow fell less at noon, and not heavily in the afternoon, but the weather got a lot colder. The winter of this era was much colder than that of later generations.

There was no way, this was Lin Heng's first time doing it, so it was unrealistic to expect him to do the same as the master sculptor.

"Dad~"

Lin Heng was doing carving when he saw Xiaoxia running out of the bedroom in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes.

"Why don't you even wear any clothes!"

Lin Heng quickly carried her back to the house, fearing that she would catch a cold.

"I wet the bed Daddy!"

Xiaoxia said a little scared in Lin Heng's arms.

When Lin Heng touched his daughter's pants, they were all wet, and he immediately understood why she woke up.

Xiaoxia's expression was very remorseful. She knew bedwetting was bad.

Lin Heng did not scold her, but smiled and kissed her: "It's okay, just try your best not to wet the bed next time. When Xiaoxia stops wetting the bed, she will be a little adult."

Lin Heng didn't want to punish her because she wet the bed. He thought that Xiaoxia didn't wet the bed because he didn't want to wet the bed, not because she was afraid of being beaten or punished.

While changing Xiaoxia's clothes, Lin Heng told her about Xiulan's hardships in washing diapers and the benefits of not wetting the bed.

After changing her clothes, Xiaoxia walked to the kitchen by herself, lowered her head and apologized to Xiulan in a sweet voice: "I'm sorry, mom, I won't wet the bed next time."

Xiulan looked at her and showed a bright smile: "I believe you."

Xiulan was cooking, and Xiaoxia was following her. After dinner, when Xiulan was washing clothes and quilts, Xiaoxia was squatting next to her and wanted to help. She seemed to feel even more guilty when she felt how cold the water was in winter.

In the afternoon, Lin Heng finally finished the wooden horse. Although it was ugly, it was completely ready to ride. Lin Heng tried it himself, and there was no problem at all.

"Xiaoxia, I want to give you something."

Lin Heng called Xiaoxia over. "what is this?"

Xiaoxia opened her eyes wide and looked at the ugly and silly Trojan horse in front of her, and asked curiously.

"This is the horse I made for Xiaoxia. After riding it, Xiaoxia won't be able to wet the bed."

Lin Heng said with a smile and showed it to Xiaoxia.

Then he put Xiaoxia on it. When Xiaoxia grabbed the wooden handle on the horse's head and shook it, she laughed happily like a silver bell after a while.

Seeing Xiaoxia having so much fun, Lin Heng couldn't help but smile and turned to look at Xiulan: "Well, I did a pretty good job, right?"

"Except for being ugly, everything else is good. It was a great success the first time I did it." Xiulan said with a smile, and her evaluation was very true.

These words made Lin Heng grin and walk over to warm himself by the fire and watch Xiaoxia play with the wooden horse.

After resting for a while, Xiulan asked Lin Heng to sweep the snow in the yard outside. She wanted to do this job with Lin Heng, so she didn't sweep it today.

"Let's make a snowman out of the swept snow."

Lin Heng said with a slight smile.

Xiulan looked at him and blinked: "Look at you!"

"Then do it."

Lin Heng used a shovel to shovel the snow and piled it against the wall. Xiulan took a broom and swept the bluestone floor again to reveal it.

The snow gathered together, and Lin Heng simply made two, one large and three small snowmen, using branches to make arms and five features.

"How does it look? Does it look good?" Lin Heng turned around and asked with a smile.

Xiulan blinked and smiled: "It's so ugly."

She walked over and adjusted it herself, but it was still ugly, but she insisted: "It looks much better than before."

Lin Heng laughed and found it interesting.

After watching the snowman for a while, the two returned to the house. After dinner, Xiaoxia was still playing with the wooden horse. She loved this new toy so much that she stopped playing with the roly-poly and the car.

The next day, when the sun came out and the snow and ice melted, it was extremely cold. After lunch, Lin Heng went up the mountain to help pick up carbon.

Charcoal burning is very simple, just saw the firewood into short pieces and place them vertically in the earthen kiln. After lighting the fire, it will burn for a day and night, releasing thick white smoke.

When the smoke gradually dissipates, it means that the wood of the tree has been burned and turned into charcoal.

There are two ways to make charcoal at this time. One is to seal all the smoke outlets of the earth kiln to isolate oxygen and wait for the charcoal to cool naturally.

But they generally don't use this method here. Instead, they directly take out the red charcoal and bury it in the moist soil. Otherwise, it will be completely extinguished in an hour or two.

Because it absorbs moisture, it is more difficult for the charcoal to burn again, making it less likely to cause fire.

Father Lin looked at Lin Heng and said, "Lin Heng, just carry the basket of charcoal back and use it yourself."

"it is good!"

Lin Heng usually doesn't use charcoal fire, but he doesn't refuse. It's still very good for barbecue and other things.

Back in the room, Lin Heng looked at the calendar. Tomorrow is January 10th, the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Lin Heng remembered what Uncle Gao said and told Xiulan that he would get up early and go to Huangtan Town tomorrow morning.

Xiulan thought she had no opinion on this.

Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and her daughter and said with a smile: "I will take you to play on the streets on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year. The streets should be very lively as the New Year approaches."

"it is good."

Xiulan Arrow agreed, and she hadn't been on the street for a long time.

In the evening, the three of us just ate a piece of cabbage, boiled vermicelli and braised pork and rested.

"Dong dong dong! Open the door!!"

Early the next morning, before dawn at around six o'clock, there was a knock on the door outside.

"What's going on?"

"The voice sounds like it belongs to Liu Changgen, let's go out and have a look!"

Xiulan and Lin Heng were both awakened. They were both a little unhappy and could only put on their clothes and go out to take a look.

When they opened the gate of the courtyard, they saw Liu Changgen standing at the door wearing a sackcloth and mourning. They were both shocked for a moment.

Before the two of them could speak, Liu Changgen knelt down and kowtowed three times: "Lin Heng, Chen Xiulan, my father has passed away, please help me!"

Liu Changgen is Liu Lan's husband, and his father is Liu Sanye. He often smokes under the ginkgo tree in the village.

"Master Liu San is gone?"

Lin Heng was stunned and couldn't believe it. He felt very tough when he saw this old man a few days ago. Why did he suddenly pass?

There was a trace of haggardness on Liu Changgen's face: "He suddenly started vomiting in the middle of the night, and finally stopped after five o'clock. He said he wanted to drink sweet wine, so I got him a bowl of sweet wine, but he suddenly gave up after taking a sip."

Liu Changgen had not been kind to his father before, so he felt so sad when the old man suddenly passed away.

After understanding the situation, Lin Heng nodded and said, "I'll go over and help later."

As the saying goes, red lions come uninvited and white things come uninvited. No one in the village can shirk this kind of thing.

"Thank you very much." Liu Changgen said, then turned around and went to other houses to invite people.

"It's so unpredictable."

After the people left, Lin Heng sighed, feeling that he was too insignificant.

Xiulan took Lin Heng's hand, looked at him and asked, "Should we both go to help?"

"One person is enough. There are many people in the village and there is no shortage of people. Let's do this. I will help you and you can take Xiaoxia to give a gift."

Lin Heng looked at her and said.

Now he is just asking for help. The official business should be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. There is no need to rush, and it will not delay him from going to town.

"Okay." Xiulan nodded.

After discussing it, Lin Heng went to tell his parents and eldest brother, and they were all invited.

After some discussion, Lin Heng and his eldest brother decided to help pour wine, Lin's father would help boil water, and Lin's mother would help wash the vegetables.

Lin's father added: "As for the gifts, it's up to you and your eldest brother, Lin Heng, to give them to you. We won't give them to you."

Although they are divided into three families now, there will definitely only be two in the future.

"Okay." Lin Heng was indifferent to this. In this era, gifts in rural areas were usually given as food or sugar. It was not until the 1990s that money began to be given.

A little food is nothing to the current Lin family.

After finishing it, Lin Heng rode to Huangtan Town. He originally wanted to take Caiyun with him, but she said it was too early and wanted to leave by herself, so Lin Heng did not force her.

(End of this chapter)