Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 396 Gem
The first thing he did was to go to the engineering team to inquire about the situation of renting excavators. The answer he got was that they were not rented to private individuals. There were not enough excavators at the moment, and there was always endless work to be done every day.

However, Lin Heng still found out the approximate price, which was not much different from what he expected.

The second thing was to find Lin Hai, as his third father wanted him to go back home to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But when Lin Heng went to his residence, he found that he was not there, so he had to turn around and go to Tian Yan's school to tell her the news.

After delivering the message, Lin Heng was about to leave, but he found someone selling mandarin fish on the small street outside the school, freshly caught mandarin fish.

"How much is one pound of your mandarin fish?" Lin Heng drove over and asked.

"Eighty cents a pound, do you want it?" the old man replied with a smile.

"I want all five big ones." Lin Heng nodded and pointed at the five largest fish.

Now the general salary in the city has risen to two yuan a day. If you buy rice, flour and vegetables, you can buy a lot, but meat is very expensive and most people can't afford it.

The main reason is their scarcity. Fish and shrimp are all caught from wild rivers and very few are farmed.

Mandarin fish and black carp are relatively expensive fish, so this price is normal.

"okay."

When the old man heard this, he quickly packed up the fish and weighed it. The total weight was a little over seven pounds, so he counted it as seven pounds of fish.

"Five dollars and sixty cents." Lin Heng took the fish and handed over the money.

"Take care." After receiving the money, the old man waved happily towards Lin Heng.

After the car drove away, Lin's father said, "We bought too many. Three is enough. We can go fishing with the rest."

"Not much, not much. I plan to take it back and make it into stinky mandarin fish. Let's go fishing again when we have time later." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"Then wait a moment, I'll go buy two and let Xiulan teach your sister-in-law how to make them." Lin Yue suddenly said at this time.

He tried the stinky mandarin fish once last year and thought it tasted very good.

Especially the meat that is as firm as garlic cloves makes people linger.

"This is enough. When it's done, I'll bring you one. There's no need to buy more." Lin Heng said. Without giving his eldest brother a chance to choose, he drove straight back.

"Yes, five is enough." Lin's father also said.

"Okay then." Lin Yue no longer insisted.

When we returned to the village, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was still very hot during the Mid-Autumn Festival, making people feel like their skin was being sunburned.

He first sent his father back to Hongfeng Mountain, then turned back before returning home.

"Dad, let me help you get your things."

Seeing Lin Heng driving the car to the door, Xiaoxia ran over and said.

"Okay, take this."

Lin Heng gave her a bag of toilet paper and asked her to carry it. He pushed the cart in and took the rest of the things with Xiulan.

"Are you going to make stinky mandarin fish?" Xiulan said as she looked at the fish she was taking.

"Yes, I bought it specially. I'll kill it as soon as I drink a sip of water." Lin Heng nodded.

"Okay, I'll prepare the seasoning later." Xiulan nodded.

After putting the things down, she poured Lin Heng a cup of herbal tea made from honeysuckle, prunella vulgaris and other anti-inflammatory herbs, and then packed up the things Lin Heng bought.

Every time Lin Heng bought something, he would write a small note at home and then buy according to the receipt. He would never buy less than what he wanted, so Xiulan was very relieved.

Lin Heng drank some herbal tea to cool off, got some snacks for his daughter, and then got up to kill the fish.

The fish was killed, the internal organs and gills were removed, and Xiongba and Dazhuang were already waiting to eat.

The more I look at Da Zhuang, the more he looks like a Husky. He is very noisy and clingy now. When people come back, he hugs their legs and rubs against them.

Lin Heng was too lazy to stop them from eating the food raw, so he would deworm and bathe them regularly, bathing them once every half a month and deworming them once a month.

There is no need to clean the mandarin fish after killing it. Just pour the spices and salt prepared by Xiulan into it and spread them evenly. This time, some wild peppercorns picked by Lin Hengshan were specially added.

After it is done, place it in a wooden basin, cover it with a wooden board and press it with a large stone, so that the garlic cloves will be formed later.

"I've prepared lunch and will bring it to you."

Lin Heng washed his hands, and Xiulan brought him pumpkin and corn porridge and leek dumplings.

Xiulan and the children had already eaten, but when Lin Heng was eating, Xiaoxia would still run over and ask him to feed her a few bites, as if he thought the food tasted better.

"Honey, I'm going to soak some soybeans so you can help me make tofu tomorrow."

Xiulan looked at Lin Hengdao.

"Okay, you can make some vegetable tofu. I haven't eaten it for a long time." Lin Heng nodded. There is a difference between homemade tofu and the one bought.

After dinner, Lin Heng stayed at home with Xiaoxia to paint the doll they had made earlier. Xiaoxia had a lot of fun.

Xiulan went to the old house to wash the stone mill. Although she had a crusher that could make tofu directly, she suddenly wanted to eat tofu ground by the stone mill.

It was a little past five o'clock. Lin Heng was wiping his hunting arrows and preparing to go out hunting. His eldest brother pushed open the gate of the yard and walked in, holding a basket in his hand.

"Brother, I brought you some red kiwifruit. This year I left a few trees in the orchard to bear fruit. The yield and size are both good."

Lin Yue came over and poured the kiwis into a basket and said.

The kiwi fruit is still hard now, but it will become soft on its own in a few days. If you want to wait for it to become soft on the tree, you have to wait until November.

"The fruits are quite big. It looks like they can be sold next year." Lin Heng said after taking a look at the kiwis. They are as big as eggs now, much bigger than wild ones.

Lin Yue nodded: "Yes, I think it's OK, but I haven't set up the scaffolding yet."

"Let's build it this winter. It's best to use concrete pillars and steel wires to build the frame. Wooden pillars will break after two years. We have to make or buy concrete pillars first." Lin Heng said after thinking for a while.

It's time to put up a rack for his grapes. After that, he can put some rotted cow and sheep manure on it, and then they can have fruit and be harvested next year.

Compared to apples, vine plants such as grapes and kiwis grow faster. Apples will not bear fruit on a large scale until the year after next, so you can keep fewer of them next year.

"I was thinking of cutting some wood to make a shelf. Now that you put it that way, let's just use concrete pillars and steel wires." Lin Yue nodded. He didn't want the shelf to break after two years of use.

"Are you hunting today?" Lin Heng asked again.

"Actually, I came here to ask you to do this. I want to get something good to eat for the Mid-Autumn Festival." Lin Yue said with a smile.

"Then let's go."

Lin Heng nodded, turned around and said something to Xiulan, then went out with Xiongba and his elder brother.

They went to Sanyegou today. They recently heard muntjacs calling there, so they decided to try their luck.

After walking for a long time, I just entered the ditch. Below the ditch was a soybean field. As soon as I walked over, I saw a yellow-haired rabbit jumping out from the edge of the soybean field.

Xiongba was the first to rush out to chase, while his eldest brother's dog Haoyun was stunned for a moment before following his father Xiongba to rush out.

However, because the bushes in the forest were difficult to walk through, Xiongba was unable to catch it before it entered the cave.

"That's a good thing, there might be other rabbits in this hole." Lin Heng came over and said with a smile. "Let's get some cigarettes and see how many holes there are." Lin Yue nodded. It's not bad to be able to kill a rabbit, they are not picky.

Lin Heng got some pine needles and burned a fire, which ignited two tree tongues. This tree tongue would continue to burn and emit smoke. He put it into the cave entrance to fan the smoke in, and soon smoke could be seen coming out from the other two places.

After blocking the two caves, Lin Heng continued to set off smoke here, while his eldest brother took two dogs to guard the other exit.

After about five minutes of fumigation, the rabbits couldn't bear it anymore and jumped out of the hole over there.

The two dogs, Xiongba and Haoyun, who were guarding, caught two rabbits one after the other.

"I caught him. I won't get nothing today."

Lin Yue shouted to Lin Heng, and when he was happy, a rabbit suddenly jumped out of the cave.

"Damn, he ran away!" Lin Yue shouted, but he could only see the guy crawling into the bushes and disappearing. Xiongba put down the rabbit in his mouth, but it was too late to chase him.

"Just run away, two are enough." Lin Heng put out the fire and walked over and said.

Lin Yue shook his head: "What a pity, I could have had more food, but I was careless."

Carrying the two killed rabbits, they walked up the mountain. On the way, they found many wax gourds. However, there were very few schisandra chinensis because they had all been picked.

The two men explored in the mountains and forests until dark before returning home. Lin Heng was lucky enough to shoot another bamboo partridge, but his elder brother encountered nothing.

But in fact, both of them are very satisfied with today's harvest.

After returning home, Lin Heng cleaned the rabbit and golden rooster and froze them in the refrigerator for eating during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The next morning, it started to drizzle again. We had originally planned to grind tofu with a stone mill, but now we had to use a crusher to grind the soybeans.

After coming back from the fight, Lin Heng helped to make soy milk, which they put in a pot and boiled before drinking. They took out some and let it cool, and made the rest into tofu.

After eating a bowl of salty tofu pudding mixed with garlic and chili, Lin Heng felt somewhat satisfied. It's not that he had never eaten anything better than this, but that he rarely had such a wonderful taste. Making tofu is a very troublesome and laborious task. It usually takes half a day to make one tofu.

"Take some for your eldest brother and parents later." Xiulan scooped out some tofu pudding and said that the taste of tofu pudding is very different from that of tofu. Every time it is made at home, everyone will share some to try.

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded in agreement.

With help, they scooped out the tofu brain and started making tofu. Today they made three different kinds of soy products, namely bean skin, tofu, and mugwort tofu.

Among them, Artemisia tofu is a local specialty. It is made with young leaves of Artemisia annua. It has the aroma of beans and the fresh fragrance of Artemisia annua, which is very good.

As for the bean curd skin, I will put it in the refrigerator before having hot pot in a few days.

After preparing the tofu, Lin Heng sent some of the still-warm tofu pudding to his eldest brother's family and his parents so that Caiyun could also taste it when she came back from school.

"Dad, I still want to eat sweet tofu pudding, but mom won't let me. She also won't let me eat ice cream, and she gave it to my aunt instead of me. Can you kick her out?"

Lin Heng came back, and Xiaoxia hugged his legs and complained, looking aggrieved.

Xiulan laughed when she heard this: "I'm going to kick you out, this is my home."

"This is my father's house, I'm not leaving." Xiaoxia snorted with her chin raised.

Lin Heng helplessly spread his hands, pointed at Xiulan and said with a smile: "You can't eat too much in a day. I can't beat that woman."

The ice cream was made with cream, milk and jam. It tasted very good and was very popular among children like Xiaoxia and Lin Wei.

Xiaoxia looked at her mother and said angrily, "When I grow up, I will help Dad beat Mom."

"Then let me beat you up first." Xiulan pretended to come over and grab her and beat her up.

"Daddy, help me! Aunty, help me! My butt is about to be broken into pieces."

As soon as she saw her mother coming, Xiaoxia immediately asked for help.

Finally, when she was caught by her mother, she quickly begged for mercy: "Mom, I was wrong. I love you the most. I won't eat the ice cream anymore. I'll give it all to you."

He realized the situation surprisingly quickly and hugged his mother and begged for mercy.

"Hahaha!!"

For a moment, cheerful laughter rang out in the room. Xiaoxia was so funny trying to eat ice cream.

Xiulan didn't really want to hit her. She touched her face and said, "Children can only eat one ice cream a day. When you grow up and are over ten years old, you can eat two. When you become an adult, you can eat as many as you want."

"Okay then!" Xiaoxia supported her chin and started worrying about growing up again.

Lin Heng waved for her to come over, then told her a little secret. She agreed immediately.

Then Lin Heng went to get an ice cream and ate it himself, letting Xiaoxia have a bite from time to time. She also giggled happily.

In the evening, Lin Heng took out sandpaper to polish the dried bluefish stone.

This is the second time it has been dried in the shade. After the first time, there was a bad smell that he soaked in for a while. The smell disappeared after the second time it was dried in the shade.

After it dried, it looked grayish white and didn't look like a piece of jade at all.

But as it was polished with sandpaper, the orange-red color began to appear after a while.

The hardness of the bluefish stone is not very high, so it can be polished quickly. Before going to bed, Lin Heng polished off the outermost oxide layer.

The next day after breakfast he continued to polish with finer sandpaper, and finally when he used 2000-grit sandpaper it was already very smooth.

Finally, after some polishing with polishing paste, the orange-red herringbone stone appears.

After using the needle to pierce a small hole, Lin Heng applied a layer of baby lotion on it, and then put on a woven black pendant rope to make a beautiful piece of jewelry.

"Xiu Lan, look at this, isn't it beautiful?"

After Lin Heng finished, he showed it to Xiulan.

"It's really beautiful. No wonder people say that herringbone stone can be used as a necklace." Xiulan took it under the sunlight, looked at it, and nodded.

"This orange color is so pretty. Is this a gift for my sister-in-law?" Caiyun took it, looked at it and liked it very much.

Xiulan laughed and said, "It must be for his daughter, the rope is so short."

"It is indeed for Xiaoxia."

Lin Heng smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I love daddy!"

Xiaoxia jumped up excitedly when she heard this. She had been watching Lin Heng polishing since last night.

"Come, I'll put it on you." Caiyun came over with a rope and put the green fish stone around Xiaoxia's neck.

"It's really beautiful. With this contrast, Xiaoxia looks like a little princess." Caiyun said with a smile after putting it on Xiaoxia.

Lin Heng and Xiulan also nodded, this piece of bluefish stone really matched Xiaoxia very well.

"You must take good care of it. It won't look good if it gets dirty." Xiulan said, touching her little face.

"I understand, Mom." Xiaoxia nodded happily.

(End of this chapter)