Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 68 Xiulan cried after being beaten? 【Five thousand words】

"You want to make a flower pot. It's very simple. Can a square one be used?"

Carpenter Liang said with a smile.

Lin Heng nodded: "Of course, the diameter is [-] centimeters."

Is this very simple for a carpenter? He saw a few boards and made two mortise and tenon joints, and it was done in half an hour.

Taking the finished square wooden basin, Lin Heng came to the back of his old house.

It is dark and humid here, with no more than two hours of direct sunlight every day, making it a good place to slow down seedlings.

After placing the flowerpot in the middle, he dug some humus from the forest, trimmed the roots of the black pine a little, made a shape and planted it.

Because it was originally designed to be near the water, Lin Heng did not modify it. He only made a root lift, which exposed part of the roots to the soil. This would make the entire tree look more grippy and vigorous.

After it is done, trim the branches slightly and adjust them, then water them thoroughly.

When it sprouts new leaves, it can be moved to his backyard with the pot attached.

When he got home, Lin Heng could already smell the aroma of meat, and Lin's mother had already started frying the meat.

Father Lin and his eldest brother had already divided the meat from the muntjac, and stretched the skin to dry it in the sun.

"Lin Heng, I thought about it for a while. This muntjac meat is all lean meat, and the smoke will probably spoil it. Let's just cut it into small pieces and make it into muntjac jerky, so that it can be stored longer. .”

Seeing Lin Heng, Lin's father explained his decision.

"Absolutely, get more spices." Lin Heng nodded in agreement, this is a very good idea.

Muntjac belongs to the deer family, and its characteristic is that it has less fat and more lean meat. To make bacon, you need fat and lean pork belly. Pure lean meat is too easy to spoil.

With Lin Heng's consent, Lin's father immediately started cutting the meat. Except for the two pieces of meat for his uncle and third father, only the meat for three meals was left, and the rest was all chopped into dried meat.

"It's already done. I still have a lot of spices at home, including chili pepper, alfalfa, fennel seeds, Sichuan peppercorns, and patchouli powder. It's absolutely delicious when you put it together."

Sister-in-law Liu Juan said with a smile that she and Xiulan were processing the spices, drying them and then pounding them.

"How much muntjac oil is there?" Lin Heng came over and asked.

"Not much, there is not much oil this season, only four or five pounds." Father Lin pointed to the white suet hanging on the wall.

"The muntjac oil is delicious and nutritious, so just keep it. I'll get some lard at home and use it." Lin Heng looked at his mother, Lu Hongmei.

"What are you going to do again?" Mother Lin was a little reluctant.

"You will know when the time comes, just think that I exchanged the muntjac oil for you."

Lin Heng didn't say he wanted to make soap, and he wasn't sure whether he could make it.

Mother Lin looked at him: "Do you want it now?"

If she dared to waste oil before, she would have killed Lin Heng, but now that her son has the ability, it is understandable to use some.

"No, I'll tell you when I use it." Lin Heng shook his head, not having the other materials ready yet.

And he was too tired today to do any of this.

"That's fine."

Mother Lin shook her head.

After finding a bench, Lin Heng sat under the eaves, held his daughter in his arms, and fell asleep while looking at the sun.

"dad!!"

Xiaoxia couldn't stand still, moving around in Lin Heng's arms, turning over and over, sometimes pulling Lin Heng's hair, sometimes pinching his face.

"Here, let me teach you how to speak, table, chair..."

Lin Heng sat up helplessly, holding Xiaoxia in his arms and teaching her how to speak and recognize objects.

The language was still in Mandarin. He didn't really want his daughter to learn Mandarin slowly when she went to school.

"Juezi...one by one..."

The little girl didn't mean what she said. She opened her mouth and made a barely similar sound with difficulty.

"There is progress, come on, read it again, table, chair."

Lin Heng became interested and continued teaching.

While Lin Heng was teaching his daughter how to speak, Lin's father and his eldest brother Lin Yue cut the muntjac meat into two large pots, two centimeters wide and five centimeters long, weighing twenty-eight pounds.

After the meat is cooked, sprinkle salt, pour wine, add the prepared spices, stir evenly and let it sit for an hour. After the meal, you can dry the meat.

Watching his father and elder brother working, Lin Heng missed the refrigerator more and more. Why does it need to be so complicated to have a refrigerator? Just throw it away.

It's a pity that there is no electricity now.

"time to eat."

Mother Lin said something and went out to call Carpenter Liang.

Uncle Lin Heng made three chairs in one morning, very classic rural side chairs.

Made from yellow willow tree (cotinus cotinus), no dyeing is required, it is naturally golden and very beautiful.

His uncle is actually quite capable. Although his carpentry work is not as good as that of a professional carpenter, it is not bad at all. He can make tables, chairs and benches by himself.

He can also hunt, and his family is relatively well off, but his temper is not very good, and he is prone to problems when he drinks.

There was a woman before, but he also beat her away.

"Lin Heng, are you ready to sell that old turtle?" The uncle tidied himself up and looked at him and asked.

"Not necessarily. It depends on the price. If it's too cheap, you don't want to sell it. Anyway, it won't die if you keep it alive."

Lin Heng spread his hands and said that old turtles of more than [-] years are very rare and there is no rush to sell them.

"This is my suggestion. Ask around. This is a good thing. Some people will pay a lot for it. Don't worry."

Lu Honghai nodded, quite satisfied with Lin Heng's approach.

Today's lunch was very sumptuous, including a large pot of fried muntjac meat and half a pot of muntjac offal, mainly the heart, liver and kidneys. They were all fried but only half of them were served.

The belly, large and small intestines of the deer, and the eggs have also been processed. They have been washed with oil and left there to eat tomorrow.

The muntjac gun was hung to dry in preparation for brewing wine, which was a good thing.

Muntjac meat has no fat and is similar to beef, but more delicate. It is very fragrant after being fried with lard and tastes very chewy.

"This male muntjac is not too smelly and is quite delicious."

Lin Heng commented after taking two bites.

"The muntjac is okay. It's not very bad to begin with. Your mother handled it well, so it's naturally delicious." Father Lin said with a smile.

"This is a good thing. The muntjac is full of treasures. The ancients said it can replenish the deficiency, strengthen the energy and strengthen the five internal organs." Carpenter Liang said with a smile.

"Yes, you should eat more so that you have the strength to work." Mother Lin gave everyone a large pair of chopsticks.

Lin Heng really worked hard and ate a lot of muntjac kidneys. He felt that he needed to replenish his body to make his body strong enough.

After eating, Lin Heng cooked all the skinned weasel meat and fed it to Xiong Ba. It had meat for almost every meal these days, and it was difficult to find any food.

Because of eating meat every day, it obviously grew much faster, its hair was shiny, and its frame grew bigger and bigger.

"Bahba!!"

The bones made a crackling sound when bitten by it.

On the other side, Xiulan and the others also dried the marinated venison on the bamboo fence.

The sun is so bright today that it will be almost dry in one day.

The mushrooms I dried when I came back in the morning are almost dry now.

It was so sunny that Lin's father had already moved the wood to the main room and continued to make benches.

Lin's mother and sister-in-law went to the river to wash clothes, while Lin Heng and Xiulan rested at home without going out.

He took a look at his fish pond. The fish were all alive and well. He sprinkled a little wheat bran for pigs and fed them.

This fish pond is actually a bit small, but it is in the yard after all, so it is not suitable for building too big.

When Hongfeng Mountain is developed later, when building a villa, he plans to build a very large one and raise a lot of fish.

"Give you."

When Lin Heng returned home, Xiulan handed him a cup of herbal tea. The tea was made of cordyceps and honeysuckle.

The root of cordyceps is the root that many people love and hate.

This herbal tea is available in almost every household in rural areas. It is refreshing and relieving the heat, a must-have in summer.

After drinking tea, Lin Heng went back to the house and held his daughter Xiaoxia in his arms to teach her how to speak and recognize things.

Not long after, Xiaoxia fell asleep, and Lin Heng himself lay on the bed and fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was already four or five o'clock in the afternoon. Lin Heng was woken up by Xiaoxia, whose diaper was wet.

"Wow wow... wow wow..."

"Stop calling me, little ancestor, I'll change it for you."

Lin Heng reluctantly found a new diaper for her to put on, and then the little ancestor stopped crying.

After changing his daughter's diaper, Lin Heng came out of the main room and saw only his uncle and father doing carpentry work.

No need to ask, Xiulan and the others must have gone out to work, they are all restless people.

After talking to his father, Lin Heng took his daughter out for a walk.

"This is pig pig, this is yam, this is dogtail grass..."

Lin Heng took his daughter and pointed at everything she passed by to identify things. He was not only teaching her how to speak, but also helping her identify things.

"This is bamboo, this is the mountainside, this is dogtail grass..."

Xiaoxia was very curious. When she saw Zhuzhu hiding behind Lin Heng in fear, she didn't dare to look.

When Lin Heng taught her how to recognize flowers, plants and trees, she ran to catch them excitedly, grabbed them back and fed them to her father "filially". "You are such a filial daughter!" Lin Heng looked at her helplessly.

The little girl smiled and pointed at Lin Heng: "The real pot of mud is a laughing girl..."

After recognizing the flowers and plants for a while, she didn't want to recognize them anymore, and started to have fun, staggering forward, making Lin Heng tremble with fear at every step, fearing that she would fall.

But she was able to miraculously continue with every step she took, on the verge of collapse.

Only Lin Heng was so frightened by her that he kept an eye on her.

"Daddy hug~"

When he was tired from running, he crawled into Lin Heng's arms again. Even after he got into his arms, he didn't sleep. He had the energy to flirt with women and continued to talk to Lin Heng.

An afternoon passed like this. After teaching for an afternoon, the little guy didn't seem to have learned anything. He just had fun with a smile on his face.

When he returned to the yard, Xiongba was caught again and his tail was forced to be pulled.

"No! The dog will hurt." Lin Heng stared at her sternly.

Xiaoxia opened her mouth to cry, but Lin Heng ignored her. She cried a few times and seemed to remember that crying before was of no use, so she ran over and hit Lin Heng with a small fist.

There was another big meal in the evening, and the aroma of fat and spicy food spread hundreds of meters.

People who were going home nearby were drooling with greed and looked at the Lin family for a long time without saying anything.

The worst situation is that of Li Caifeng's family. Her courtyard is closest to Lin Heng's kitchen. She can sit in the courtyard to enjoy dinner while smelling the aroma of meat.

The polenta mush in the bowl feels satisfying to swallow.

After taking a shower and going to bed, Lin Heng felt hot all over, not knowing whether it was because of the venison he had eaten or for some other reason.

Fortunately, my daughter fell asleep on her own.

As soon as his wife Xiulan got into bed, he hugged her.

"Move slowly, be careful not to wake up your daughter."

Xiulan whispered, but cooperated with Lin Heng.

One is 20 and the other is 21, which is the age when they are full of energy.

After a half-hour battle, the two of them were still a little bit unfinished, so they hugged each other for a long time, making small gestures of intimacy.

There was no way, her daughter could move too much, which made Lin Heng miss moving to a new house even more.

When the time comes, he will make a cradle bed for his daughter and put it aside so that he can use it to his heart's content.

When Lin Heng got up early on the morning of the 17th, Lin's father and elder brother had already gone to town to pull gypsum powder.

He took care of his daughter and asked his uncle and carpenter Liang to help him.

Carpenter Liang had already finished the nine doors and three windows of his house, painted them with tung oil and installed them directly.

Lin Heng took his daughter around the village and found some straw from last year, while teaching her to continue talking and recognizing objects.

She had already forgotten all the knowledge she learned yesterday. When Lin Heng taught him again, she was full of curiosity and enthusiasm, and followed the babbling.

In the afternoon, Lin Heng was walking on the road, talking to his daughter Shiwu, while Xiongba followed behind and had fun.

From time to time, lizards running across the road would frighten her so much that she hugged Lin Heng's thigh, and when she saw ants, she would stomp on them playfully.

"What's the use of teaching these things to a one-year-old baby? It's exhausting and has no effect. She will learn it naturally when she grows up."

Liu Lan, who was working in the fields outside the road, was a little confused when she saw Lin Heng's behavior.

Lin Heng smiled: "It's nothing, I'm just bored."

He would not explain that this was for his daughter's enlightenment. It would definitely be better to teach her from a young age than to learn it herself, and her daughter's speech was obviously much more sincere.

"Drink some water?"

Liu Lan pointed to the kettle on the ground and said. She was so hot that she took off her coat, revealing a v-neck floral short-sleeved shirt underneath, exposing her plump figure.

"Don't drink."

Lin Heng shook his head.

"I don't like him. With his hunting skills, he has enough money to drink good tea and water."

Liu Lan smiled, not knowing whether it was intentional or not, but when she bent down to pull weeds towards Lin Heng, most of the scenery was leaked.

"gone."

Lin Heng saw it or not, turned around and took his daughter away. Whether she did it intentionally or not, he would not pay attention to it, and he would not feel sorry for Xiulan.

Liu Lan was a little strange. In the past, a group of men wouldn't want to leave if she was like this.

Although her face is pockmarked, her body is white and one of the best in the village.

Lin Heng's behavior made her a little confused.

After taking his daughter for two walks on the road and chatting with the villagers, Lin Heng went back.

When I got home, my eldest brother and father were back. It had been sunny for two days and the road was not slippery. Pulling the plaster was much easier than before.

He didn't go hunting today, so he inevitably had another close encounter with his wife at a negative distance in the evening.

The next day on the 18th, Lin's father started to help paint the house, put the plaster in place, and used a scraper to plaster the walls.

Lin Heng was not very skilled and could only help put plaster on.

……

Caiyun goes to hunt cow grass every morning. When she went to the river this morning, she met Liu Lan and several women in the village. They all got up early to wash clothes.

A few people inevitably started chatting by the river. Rural people, as long as they are not bitter enemies, will always chat when they meet.

"Caiyun, did you put something on your mouth? It's red and smooth."

While chatting, Liu Lan asked what was on his mind.

In the summer, everyone’s lips are dry and hot. It’s normal to have cracked and cracked lips, but Caiyun’s lips were rosy and smooth.

"Yes, my second brother made lipstick."

Caiyun said with a smile that she had a simple mind and took out the wrapped lipstick from her pocket to demonstrate.

The women washing clothes by the river suddenly showed envy. They had seen this lipstick, but they couldn't afford it.
  "You mean the second brother did it? How did he do it?" Liu Lan didn't understand, Lin Heng would still make this thing?
  Caiyun shook his head: "I don't know either. He spent a long time tinkering with the beeswax, camellia oil, and flower petals, and then he made them.

I am still taking advantage of my second sister-in-law Xiulan, because my second brother made it specially for her. "

"So that's what you, Lin Heng, bought that day when you bought camellia oil and rotten honeycomb. You are really capable."

Liu Lan said with some envy, she felt bad because Lin Heng was too kind to Xiulan.

She thought Lin Heng was wasting his family, but it turned out that he was making things for his wife.

She felt very bitter when she thought that her husband didn't even give him any flowers.

Several women next to him were also a little envious. Although Lin Heng was a second-rate idler, they seemed to have never heard of him beating his wife.

Now that the prodigal son has returned, he is still so kind to his wife, which really makes them a little jealous.

Many men in the village beat their wives, and even if they don't, it's common for them to quarrel every day over trivial matters.

However, they were unwilling to believe that Lin Heng and Xiulan were so in love, thinking that it was just that the news had not spread.

"Ask your brother if he still has it. I'll trade it with him or buy it." A woman named Li Yan said next to her.

This Li Yan is very beautiful, with a good figure and a fair face, but her mouth is a bit big, which makes her appearance look much lower.

If her mouth were smaller, her appearance would not be inferior to that of Xiulan Caiyun.

There are more than [-] households in Fengshu Village, with a population of about [-]. There are about a dozen wealthy families, belonging to the thousand-dollar household level.

For households with ten thousand yuan, the village chief and the village party secretary may be a little reluctant. In this era, the purchasing power of ten thousand yuan is too strong.

The Li family that Li Yan married into is a wealthy family. When she and her husband Li Changfu got married last year, the Li family built a two-and-a-half-story red brick house directly at the east end of the village.

"I'll make a note of it. I'll go back and ask my brother. If he sells it, I'll deliver it to your door."

Caiyun nodded and said with a smile.

"Okay." Li Yan nodded, thinking it was definitely not a problem.

It was already past ten o'clock when Caiyun returned home after cutting the cow grass. After feeding the cow grass to the family's big cattle, she went straight to Lin Heng's new house.

In the new house, Lin Heng, his eldest brother and his father were plastering the main room. They had finished plastering the main room and were plastering the walls of the bedroom.

Although the plaster is not dry yet and is gray-white, it obviously makes the whole room brighter. Caiyun looks a little proud and happy.

"Second brother, Li Yan in the village wants to buy the lipstick you made. Will you sell it?"

Xiulan walked into the room and asked.

"I won't sell it for now. This is for your sister-in-law." Lin Heng refused without thinking.

How much money can you make by selling one or two?

He didn't even bother to do it. If he had time, he might as well go hunting in the mountains to see if there were rabbits, grouse or anything like that.

"Okay, I understand." Caiyun nodded, and she also guessed that her second brother would refuse.

After all, the second brother is now a capable person, and it is normal for him to look down on a few cents.

After Caiyun left, the Lin family and his son continued to apply plaster.

In one day, I finally finished plastering all the walls of the room on the first floor, and the whole room became brighter.

As for the second floor, we won’t use it for the time being. The first floor is just enough for Lin Heng and Xiulan to live.

"Second brother, go and see. Sister-in-law Xiulan was beaten to tears. Mom is quarreling with someone because of this."

As soon as Lin Heng and his son left their new house, Caiyun hurried over to report the news.

Hearing this, Lin Heng was suddenly stunned, and his voice suddenly became angry: "Where is it? What's going on?"

(End of this chapter)