Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Xiulan poured Lin Heng a glass of water and took an apple, then brought over the scallion pancake. It had just been made in the morning and could be eaten directly.

"You eat, I'll go cook for you." Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said.

Lin Heng pulled her back and said with a smile, "Don't worry, we can do it later. Let's talk for a while."

"Okay." Xiulan nodded, sat down next to Lin Heng, and reached out to flip up his untidy collar.

Lin Heng held his daughter who came in from outside and told Xiulan what he had done in the past half month. He knew that Xiulan would be very anxious when he was not at home, as she was a person who was very afraid of loneliness.

"So you have been busy every day for the past half month." Xiulan looked at Lin Heng with some heartache and said.

Lin Heng smiled and said, "We are busy now so that we won't be busy in the future. Don't worry, things will be much simpler once the factory is up and running."

While there is still an opportunity now, he must make more investments. When the wind of reform really blows in the future, he will take advantage of the east wind and take off without having to put in much effort.

"We are doing well now. The rest can be taken slowly. There is no need to work so hard." Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said. Lin Heng was working a little too hard now.

Lin Heng held her hand with one hand, hugged her neck with the other and said with a smile: "The autumn leaves have turned yellow in the past two days. Let's go to the mountains to play, and then kill a black goat for hot pot. Let's taste the taste of mutton ourselves."

Xiulan's hair was simply tied behind her with a rubber band today. It didn't smell at a distance, but when you got closer you could smell a faint floral scent.

Xiulan nodded happily: "Okay, I've wanted to go up the mountain for a long time, but it's boring to be alone on the mountain without you. Now that the White Dew has passed, we can still go pick persimmons. The persimmons this year are also very good. We can bring them back to make persimmon cakes."

"Okay, then take a day off today, and I will accompany you to pick persimmons tomorrow." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan nodded and leaned on Lin Heng's shoulder. Her daughter took off her shoes and sat on the sofa, occupying Lin Heng's arms. Only the two sons took the toy cars and ran around the house excitedly.

Although this toy car is a toy, there is no problem for a two-year-old child to sit on it as it is more than 30 centimeters long.

"These are the dried sweet potatoes and dried apples that I steamed and dried three times. You and the children can eat some. I'm going to cook." After chatting for a while, Xiulan stood up and took the food to Lin Heng.

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded, picked up a dried apple and started eating it. It was very chewy, sour and sweet, and the whole thing was a beautiful orange-red color.

After drinking two sips of tea, Xiaoxia hugged his shoulders and said, "Dad, teach me how to ride a bike."

"Dear baby, let's wait until the afternoon. Daddy is very tired and I want to rest for a while." Lin Heng touched her head and said. He didn't want to do anything when he just got home. He just wanted to sit quietly.

"Then I'll give dad a shoulder massage. You have to teach me how to play with cars in the afternoon!"

Xiaoxia knelt down beside Lin Heng and massaged his shoulders, being very considerate.

Lin Heng enjoyed himself happily for a while, then got up and walked around the room.

Although there are three children in the house, only the toys on the floor are a little messy, and everything else is in order. The coffee table is clean and only has tea cups, a fruit plate and a vase with flowers. The tea and snacks in the drawer are neatly placed.

He opened the wooden cabinet next to him. Xiulan had arranged the things inside very neatly. There were various medicinal herbs stored in glass jars and other things in plastic bags.

Walking into the study, it was the same here. The desk was clean and tidy, the books were neatly placed on the bookshelf, and even the small cabinet for rice and flour was neatly organized.

Xiulan doesn't have obsessive-compulsive disorder, but she likes to keep her house tidy. She puts away things that should be put away and piles things that are not needed in the storage room. She will organize some things that can serve as decoration and put them in a suitable place.

She even kept the wood-burning kitchen tidy, so the firewood wasn't in a mess.

Life does not necessarily mean the quality of material things. Even if it is a mud house, as long as you have a heart that loves and enjoys life, you can make it comfortable and warm.

But if you don’t have a love for life, even a big villa will become a mess.

Just like the houses made of yellow mud, if you walk around the village, you will find that some houses have all kinds of straw, pig manure, firewood and other things in front of their doors, which do not look like people live there. There are also houses with neat front and back, and their mud houses are decorated beautifully in some thoughtful ways.

Some people complain about life, some people love life.

Lin Heng looked around the front yard and found that the fruits and vegetables that had withered in the fall had been pulled out by Xiulan, and now they were planting coriander, garlic sprouts, spinach and other vegetables that could grow in winter.

In the backyard, flowers, green grass and trees complement each other, with a bluestone path spreading through it. The water in the fish pond is clear and transparent, and big round koi are playing in the water.

In the back mountain, Kun Kun and his friends were looking for insects under the forest. There were still fruits hanging on the navel orange trees and tangerine trees, which were gradually turning yellow and ripening.

The cows that have been producing milk here for more than two years are leisurely swinging their tails and slowly eating grass. Behind the eldest brother's house, the smell is not so good. There are cow pens and pig pens over there. Although the manure produced is covered with tarpaulin, there is inevitably a smell.

Lin Heng walked around, and Xiongba followed him happily, hugging his legs from time to time to express his feelings.

Lin Heng brought his son Xiong Ba back to the house, and his youngest son Du Heng hugged him: "Dad, my brother stole my car."

"No, my younger brother snatched it from me first." Lu Ming also ran over to argue.

Although the two brothers are twins, they quarrel and fight five or six times a day, and then cry and make up again.

"Come on, come on, Du Heng will speak first, and then Lu Ming will speak."

Lin Heng did not take sides. He questioned both of them and finally called Xiaoxia to verify the testimonies of the three parties. Then he concluded that it was Du Heng who caused the trouble. He wanted to steal his brother Lu Ming's excavator but failed and had the bulldozer stolen instead, so he came to complain.

"This is your fault, Du Heng. You were the one who snatched other people's things first. That's good. You should apologize to your brother." Lin Heng looked at Du Heng and said, without saying that the elder brother must give in to his younger brother.

There should be no age distinction when it comes to right and wrong. This will only make older children feel disgusted and resentful, and younger children become arrogant and domineering.

Du Heng was a little unconvinced, but after Lin Heng's instruction, he admitted his mistake in a childish voice: "Sorry, don't be angry, I was wrong, Gege."

"I got it back from my brother, I'm giving it back to him." Lu Ming returned the bulldozer to his brother.

Du Heng was still looking at his brother's excavator and wanted to play with it, as he felt that the bulldozer was boring.

"If you want to play, just speak up and discuss with your brother. You shouldn't snatch it." Lin Heng taught Du Heng again, then looked at Lu Ming: "You did nothing wrong, but brothers should be friendly. If there is a problem, you should talk about it reasonably instead of being rude and violent. You should only do it when you can't talk it out."

"I understand." Lu Ming nodded.

After teaching his two sons a lesson, Lin Heng took them to play nearby for a while, and then went to the kitchen to help Xiulan. Although the two sons were still young, they were relatively well-behaved under the leadership of their older sister, who had been shaped by Lin Heng. Their speaking ability was also better than other children of the same age.

Entering the kitchen, Xiulan was kneading dough. Seeing Lin Heng coming in, she said, "You go and sit down. I'll finish kneading it in a while." "We have instant noodles at home. Just add some." Lin Heng said as he washed his hands and came to help.

Xiulan said softly, "Dried noodles are not tasty, and I plan to knead them a little more and make them into pulled noodles, and eat them tomorrow."

"Then let me help you." Lin Heng pushed her away and kneaded the dough himself. Compared to Xiulan, his strength was undoubtedly more than twice as great, and he kneaded the dough faster.

"Then I'll go prepare the whistle." Xiulan looked at him and happily went to pick vegetables nearby.

Knead the dough for more than ten minutes and it will be almost done. Cut half of it into small strips, brush them with oil and put them in a bowl to wake up for making pulled noodles tomorrow. Roll the rest out on the spot into a large round cake with a diameter of one meter, then fold it and cut it into small strips one finger wide. This is the standard hand-rolled noodles.

"The water is already on, just go in." Xiulan looked at him and said.

Lin Heng nodded, spread the noodles into the pot, Xiulan added a few leaves of Chinese cabbage, and poured cold water on it before cooking.

Shaozi Xiulan’s recipe is also very simple, just chopped green onion, coriander and minced garlic, added some lard, poured with noodle soup, and added soy sauce and aged vinegar.

Although it looks simple, it tastes very delicious. Lin Heng directly took a small bowl to eat, while Xiulan and the children used bowls.

Soon the meal was served on the table. Xiaoxia was the first to fetch water to wash her hands. Her two younger brothers followed her, but if they couldn't wash them cleanly, Xiulan had to step in.

In addition to the noodles, there was a plate of stir-fried vegetables, some pickled bamboo shoots, and a bottle of mushroom beef sauce on the table.

"Mom, I want beef with mushrooms." Xiaoxia said, holding chopsticks. She already knew how to use chopsticks.

"I'll scoop some for you." Xiulan scooped some for each child and watched them sit on the bench and start eating noodles. Xiaoxia used chopsticks and the two younger brothers used forks.

Although the two sons found it difficult to eat with a fork, Lin Heng and Xiulan did not help them immediately. They thought that exercising their fingers would give them strength so that they could learn to eat by themselves sooner.

If you see that he can't do it and are afraid that he will knock the baby over, so you keep feeding him, it will take him a very long time to learn to eat by himself. Everything requires proficiency, and you need more practice to learn it.

Lin Heng was the fastest eater. After adding a little sauce, he finished a small bowl of noodles in a few slurps and then drank the soup.

"Eat slowly. No one is going to snatch it from you. There's still food in the pot. Eating too fast is bad for your health." Xiulan looked at him helplessly.

"It's okay. I'm young now and my digestion is good. This is how the noodles taste better." Lin Heng smiled and walked over to help the two children eat, taking a bite of the vegetables from time to time.

Although he knows that eating too fast is not good, he just likes to eat noodles this way. It makes him feel comfortable and at ease.

After the meal, Xiulan cleaned up the dishes, and Lin Heng went to the cabinet next to him and took out two pieces of Polygonatum sibiricum, which had been steamed and dried nine times. He put them in the drinking pot and rinsed with water. The whole family could drink it. It can replenish qi and nourish yin, strengthen the spleen and moisten the lungs. It is a very good thing.

Lin Heng didn't do much work in the afternoon, so he took the children to Hongfeng Mountain, where there was a large area. He put knee pads, wrist guards and a small helmet on Xiaoxia and began to teach her how to ride a bicycle.

The two children were brought by Lin's mother to watch from the side. They wanted to play but did not have the ability to do so.

My parents didn't do anything today. There wasn't much farm work to do except feeding the cows and sheep.

Lin Heng told his father that he wanted to eat a black goat. After hearing this, his father smiled and said, "I actually want to eat one too. I haven't eaten a black goat yet. Let's kill one in a couple of days and try it."

"You really know how to eat. You don't even want to eat white goats, you want to eat black goats." Lin's mother said with a smile, but she didn't disagree.

Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said, "Should we still kill a pig for the New Year this year?"

"Of course, the two piglets that were raised in the pigsty during the previous winter have grown up and have been eating acorns for a long time." Father Lin interrupted.

Xiulan nodded and said, "Then I'm going to take out the pork that was slaughtered in the middle of this year from the freezer and dry it into bacon. This meat won't taste very good if it's been frozen for too long."

"Of course you can. You can free up the freezer to store other things. The bacon won't go bad if you leave it outside in the winter. I also like to eat bacon." Lin's mother said.

Lin Heng slapped his thigh and said, "Speaking of bacon, I still have two hams that I haven't opened yet. Let's go back and open them this afternoon."

The two big hams he made earlier were still hanging upstairs, but he hadn't paid attention to them for a long time.

Xiulan said: "I've checked it out, and it should be fine, but it's definitely edible."

Lin Heng immediately said: "Then we will open it when we get back. If it's edible, we'll fry it and have a meal in the evening."

"I want to eat too." Xiaoxia said in a baby voice while riding a bike.

Lin Heng pushed her and promised repeatedly: "There will definitely be a share for my precious daughter."

An afternoon passed by as everyone chatted and played with the children.

At around four o'clock, Lin Heng and his father went up the mountain to feed grass to the livestock. He also took Hongzao, who hadn't ridden a horse for a long time, out for a ride. It felt good to ride a horse, and it was very majestic.

After feeding the cattle and sheep, Lin's father and mother went back to the village. Xiaoxia was tired after learning to drive a car for an entire afternoon, so she gave up after not learning how to drive and let her grandfather push the car.

After entering the house, Lin Heng couldn't wait to go upstairs and bring down both hams. Not only was there a layer of dust on the hams, but there was also a layer of mold on the lean meat.

"I don't know if it's edible." Lin Heng looked at the two hams and said.

"Burn it and cut it open, and you'll know." Father Lin had already brought a handful of dry bamboo strips.

Take the ham outside, light the bamboo strips, and roast it inside and out. The tight skin and flesh will sizzle with oil and emit a rich aroma.

The surfaces of the two hams were quickly burned clean. Lin Heng placed them on a wooden board and used a tempered steel dagger to scrape off the mold on the surface.

It was not difficult to peel the meat, and soon a piece of mold was removed, revealing a beautiful red and white texture, accompanied by a strong meaty aroma.

"Looks like it worked!" Lin Heng said with a smile. This meant that the ham was successful and there was only some mold on the surface.

"This meat is really beautiful, much more beautiful than bacon." Father Lin also nodded repeatedly.

Xiaoxia came even closer, drooling: "It smells so good, I want to eat it so much, Dad."

Mother Lin poured a basin of cold water on him: "This is made from wild boar legs, right? Whether it is successful or not depends on whether it has a 'ha la' taste. Some meat looks fine, but tastes terrible." (End of this chapter)