Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 323: The small dam on the top of the mountain is completed

Lin Heng finished drinking the water and looked at Xiulan and asked, "What's the matter?"

"I'm just kidding, it's nothing." Xiulan said playfully.

Lin Heng stared at her with wide eyes. She was wearing a floral dress and sitting on a bench with her straight white legs together. There was a hint of pride and innocence in her eyes.

Lin Heng went to get some grapes he bought in the city, washed them, picked them into pieces and placed them in front of her: "Eat them. Although these grapes have a lot of seeds, they are still quite delicious."

Xiulan tasted one and asked curiously, "How do you know I'm hungry?"

"I'm a fortune teller, I can calculate." Lin Heng rolled his eyes and went to separate the things he bought.

I bought some fruits, rain boots, and toiletries for my parents.

"Caiyun, this is for you. It's almost time to go to school, and it's hard enough for you to take care of your sister-in-law and Xiaoxia for the whole summer."

Lin Heng handed her a pair of shoes, a set of clothes, and a set of stationery.

"Second brother!" Caiyun didn't know what to say for a moment after looking at these things.

In her opinion, taking care of her sister-in-law and Xiaoxia was her duty and she didn't need any compensation at all.

Because of this, she no longer has to do hard work like digging the ground or herding cattle.

"Take it, your second brother doesn't need this little money." Lin Heng said with a smile.

With Caiyun's teaching, Xiaoxia could recognize more than a dozen Chinese characters at the age of three and could also write her own name. This is all thanks to her.

Mother Lin finished pickling the clam meat and came out and said, "Just take it if he gives it to you. Everyone knows that your second brother is a rich man. It's only natural for him to buy clothes and stationery for his sister."

"Yes, take it quickly, Caiyun." Xiulan said as she fed Xiaoxia a grape.

Xiaoxia chewed a grape and ran over to take the food and stuffed it into Caiyun's arms: "Auntie gives it to you~"

Caiyun looked at the gift and said with emotion: "Thank you, second brother."

Not only did her second brother change her destiny, he also bought her clothes and stationery from time to time so that she would not be laughed at at school.

She felt that she would never be able to repay her second brother's kindness in this lifetime.

Lin Heng waved his hand, turned around, picked up the remaining things, looked at Xiulan and said, "Then I'll take the things up first."

"Go ahead." Xiulan waved her hand.

Lin Heng nodded, took his things and walked up the mountain road to the cabin. In addition to daily necessities and food, there were also clothes bought for Xiulan, all of which were loose maternity clothes.

When he put his things down, his father came back and was trying on his new rain boots. He walked a few steps, nodded and said, "These shoes are not bad, and the leather looks thick."

"This is durable and will not break even after wearing it for two or three years." Lin Heng said with a smile. Rain boots are almost a must-have pair of shoes in rural areas. They are very useful for preventing poisonous insects and snakes or when it rains.

Father Lin nodded, pointed to the two rolls of string nets beside him and said, "Is this what you bought to fence the chickens?"

"Yes, I originally wanted to buy a wire mesh, but it was too heavy. This rope mesh can last for two years and is relatively cheap, so I discussed it with my eldest brother and decided to buy it."

"This one will do. The wire mesh is very hard and difficult to install, but this one can be deformed." Father Lin nodded.

"Find some time in the next few days to get it done. These newly hatched geese are too mean. They eat the vegetables I grow every day and even want to eat shrimps. So we have to keep them locked up." Mother Lin walked out of the house and said.

She changed her second nest to ten goose eggs, and five little white geese hatched. Now there are only four left, and they cackle every day.

She has also recently been hatching eggs to sell to other people in the village.

"Okay." Lin Heng agreed. The chickens in the hills behind his house were almost too big to keep.

Father Lin asked, "Then let's start work tomorrow."

"Yes, we'll start work tomorrow morning." Lin Heng agreed.

"I have almost processed the clam meat, you can do it." Mother Lin looked at Lin Heng and said.

Lin Heng nodded and walked into the kitchen to take a look. His mother had done a good job, but it was still a little short. He added some flour and washed it, and the fishy smell was basically completely removed.

Cut it into strips, blanch it in boiling water for a dozen seconds, then take it out. Leave the rest to his mother and he will wait to eat.

After a while, mother prepared dinner, and my eldest brother and others came over, and everyone ate together.

"The meat of this river clam is pretty good. It tastes delicious."

After tasting the clam meat, Father Lin commented.

"Indeed, it tastes spicy and sour, which is appetizing." Lin Yue also said.

Lin's mother likes to use hot and sour sauce when cooking. The taste is very good and is also suitable for eating with rice.

Moreover, her mother made egg yolk soup for Xiulan to eat, but Lin Heng was not allowed to have a taste of it.

It was getting dark after dinner. Outside, the sounds of insects and frogs could be heard one after another, and mosquitoes were also flying in swarms. Xiulan, who was wearing a knee-length floral dress, didn't dare to go out for fear of being sucked dry by mosquitoes.

Lin Heng and his father went to feed the shrimps. When they shone a flashlight, they saw that the water hyacinth vines were full of active shrimps with a pair of tiny eyes glowing white.

These prawns are already as long as fingers. After a while of growth, they will be ready for shipment. I estimate that we can contact people to sell them in September.

"Are these shrimps growing well?" Father Lin asked with a smile as he spread the feed.

"It's a bit too good." Lin Heng shook his head. This growth was much faster than he expected. After thinking about it carefully, he probably understood that it might be because the raw materials of this era were not adulterated.

Because these raw materials now come from state-owned enterprises, the quality is very reliable, unlike private companies in later generations that always cut corners.

"Then should we reduce the amount of feed we feed?" asked Father Lin.

"Well, let's reduce it by 5 to 10 percent." Lin Heng nodded.

After feeding the shrimps, he looked at the grass carp again. These guys were nearly one kilogram in size and had grown very fast this year. They were fed feed once every three days and grass on other days.

Back in the house, he took a 30-centimeter-long shrimp cage and threw it into the shrimp pond, preparing to taste the shrimps he raised at noon tomorrow.

"Let's go home." When Lin Heng came back, it was completely dark.

"Okay." Xiulan extended her hand towards Lin Heng.

With flashlights in hand, the three of them slowly walked up the mountain and soon returned to the cabin.

After a simple wash, Xiulan looked at the things Lin Heng bought today and asked, "Have you finished everything at the factory?"

"Yes, I'll take you down to have a look some other day." Lin Heng nodded.

"Okay then." Xiulan nodded and said, "When you are free one day, please make me a few more bamboo hangers. Some of them are not enough."

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded in agreement, washed his face, and carried Xiaoxia to bed.

"Dad, I don't want to go to bed yet."

She rolled around on the bed and acted like a spoiled brat.

"Then you play with the cars for a while, and then you can go to sleep." Lin Heng didn't force him. He wiped her little toys and threw them on the bed.

Xiulan put away the pile of things that Lin Heng had scattered around before climbing onto the bed. She leaned on the pillow, drank a sip of water, and was a little dazed.

Under the flashlight, her long and straight legs were white and shiny, and even without stockings they were very smooth and delicate. Lin Heng couldn't help but touch them.

"The child is still here!"

Xiulan slapped his hand away and rolled her eyes.

"I'm just massaging your legs." Lin Heng said seriously. "Don't give me that!" Xiulan didn't believe it.

Lin Heng shook his head, went over to play games with Xiaoxia for a while, and then told her a story to put her to sleep.

Then he approached his wife with a smile and said, "Now I can rub your legs."

Xiulan ignored him and turned off the flashlight. Lin Heng took advantage of the faint moonlight to admire the beautiful pair of long legs.

……

During these days in Hongfeng Mountain, everyone went to bed early at night and got up early in the morning.

It was just dawn when Lin Heng and Xiulan opened their eyes. He glanced at the sky outside and hugged his wife in his arms again. It was indeed hard for her to be pregnant and have to take care of him from time to time.

"Get up, and go cook."

Xiulan didn't hold him for long. She sat up, picked up the underwear that was under her pillow last night and put it on. Then she urged Lin Heng to get up and exercise together.

"You are impatient with me, aren't you?" Lin Heng said deliberately.

"Yes, I want to kick you into the toilet." Xiulan snorted and threw the towel in his face.

After washing up, they exercised while bickering, enjoying their time alone for a while before waking up Xiaoxia.

After breakfast, Caiyun came up and Lin Heng went downstairs to find his father.

"Third father, Lin Hai, you came so early." Lin Heng said hello to Third father and Lin Hai.

"It's not early, not early. The cattle herders in the village have been out for half an hour." Third father Lin Xutao said with a smile.

"Brother Lin, haven't you gone hunting these days?" Lin Hai asked.

"I don't have time to go because I'm taking care of Xiulan. Besides, the prey killed in the summer will easily rot. It's too far away to go hunting." Lin Heng shook his head.

"Yeah, I was also saying that our corn fields were being attacked by wild boars, and I wanted to ask you for help to fight them, but forget it." Lin Hai said.

"If you're close, I can help put down the traps and clamps, which might be helpful." Lin Heng said after thinking for a while.

"That's fine." Lin Hai agreed happily.

After they finished breakfast and Brother Lin Heng arrived, everyone went up the mountain with their weapons.

Lin Heng and his elder brother each held a three-meter-long plastic tube with a diameter of twenty centimeters.

When they arrived at the small dam, they first began to tidy up the terrain that had been washed away last time. They laid the sand on both sides flat, dug out the basalt at the bottom and flushed it with water.

Lin Heng placed the two plastic pipes in the middle and connected them to a pool of water inside, allowing most of the water to flow out of the pipes. He could then build a dam outside. It didn't matter if there were some small holes, as they would not affect the dam's water storage effect.

"How should we build it?" asked Lin's father. Everyone else looked at Lin Heng. They knew how to build stone embankments, but this was their first time building a dam.

"This kind of small dam can be built in any way. For this dam, just build it in an arch shape, and two meters in width will be enough." Lin Heng said.

It doesn't matter how this small dam is built, after all, it can't store much water. And here both sides are basalt walls, which is a natural advantage. Making an arch will make the structure more stable.

After saying that, he picked up the lime and sprinkled it in a line. After seeing it, everyone nodded, thinking it made sense.

Lin Hai looked at everyone and asked, "Then I and Brother Lin Yue will mix the cement together, and Dad and Second Dad Brother Lin, the three of you will build the steps?"

"Okay." Father Lin nodded, and they went to move the stones first.

Lin Heng went over to look at the two men and the cement, gave some instructions and then came over to help build the steps. These steps were built layer by layer with a mixture of stones and cement, so they would be very sturdy.

The repair process is quite tiring, as it is definitely a physical job, especially moving stones.

They started at 7:30 and finished the first layer of foundation at 10 o'clock, but that was already considered fast.

"father!"

When they started building the second floor, Xiaoxia came running over, followed by Caiyun and Xiulan.

"Just stay here and watch, don't go down." Xiulan pulled her and said.

"Okay." Xiaoxia stood under the tree and watched curiously a large group of people working. Caiyun brought everyone a piece of cut watermelon to quench their thirst.

"sweet!"

"So sweet!"

Everyone agreed that the watermelon was very sweet.

After eating the melon, everyone continued to work. By 12 o'clock, when they had lunch, the second layer of the dam had just been completed and was another thirty or forty centimeters higher.

This was thanks to the fact that Lin's father and his team had already transported all the stones, cement and other materials to the place, otherwise it would not have been possible so quickly.

"It looks like we can finish it in two days."

After washing his face in the pool above, Father Lin looked at the built stone steps and said.

Sandie also nodded and said, "It will be completed in three days at most."

"Almost. I hope it won't rain heavily in the next five days." Lin Heng said, looking at the sky.

"Dad, come back for dinner soon." Xiaoxia pulled Caiyun over and urged him again.

"Coming, coming." Lin Heng nodded, walked over, picked her up and threw her in the air.

Lin Wei and Lin Tao were also here today. They caught green longhorn beetles in the woods, tied them with ropes and flew them around, and they also caught rhinoceros beetles.

Xiaoxia ate two bites at the dinner table and then went to play with Lin Wei and the others.

"Xiongba, go and watch." Lin Heng threw a piece of meat to Xiongba and said.

"Ouch!"

As soon as Xiongba heard about taking care of children, he no longer wanted to eat meat. Those little boys were too scary.

But in the end, it still ran to look at its little master. The little master, who had played with it since childhood, was still a very cute child.

After lunch, they continued to work in the afternoon, and they didn't rest even when the sun was shining, because they were afraid of rain. They worked until 10 pm, and built a stone embankment of 1.5 meters in height in one day. The speed was not bad, after all, the length was 5 meters.

Before dinner, Lin Heng went to Lin Hai's cornfield with a bow and arrow, wire and clamps. He found a path for wild boars in the nearby woods and set up several traps, and also set up some clamps in the cornfield.

On the way back, he was lucky enough to find a rabbit. Xiongba caught it without him having to do anything.

"It's a great day today, and we have an extra dish for dinner." Lin Hai said with a smile.

"Rabbit meat is just so-so, everyone can just eat it." Lin Heng went home, peeled the rabbit's internal organs and head and gave them to the dog, fried a dish of it, and gave half of the rest to his third father.

Over the next two days, several people continued to build the dam. Big brother Lin Hai and his friends mixed cement and came to help move stones. On the afternoon of May 23, everyone finally completed the dam.

"It's finally done."

Father Lin sighed as the sun set.

"Thank God it hasn't rained these days." Sandie also said.

"Everyone has worked hard. We have been very busy these days." Lin Heng said with a smile.

The main body of the dam has been completed. It is five meters high, five meters wide at the bottom and seven meters and two meters wide at the top.

Two water pipes are inserted at a height of two meters from the ground, which makes it very convenient for eating or irrigating grass. Water does not need to be pressurized at such a high position.

(End of this chapter)