Era: Started from raising livestock in the mountains

"What are you so excited about?"

Lin Heng asked doubtfully as he walked.

Father Lin held a small black ball and asked, "Son, do you think this is a black truffle?"

"Black truffle?"

Lin Heng was stunned, then quickly walked over to take it and asked, then looked at the chestnut trees around him, nodded and said: "This is indeed a black truffle, Dad, how did you find it?"

Father Lin pointed to the ground and said, "Isn't there a wild lily growing here? I dug it out with my hoe twice."

The lily pole is still there on the ground. Father Lin only dug a hole and hasn't dug it out yet. There are already a lot of black truffles scattered around.

"It's really hard to find someone without even trying. It takes no effort to get along. Let's dig around. Maybe we can make hundreds of dollars from him today." Lin Heng said with emotion.

He had told Xiulan before that he would get some from the place where he dug black truffles last year and bring them back to eat. This stuff is as fresh as MSG, and it tastes particularly fragrant when added to dishes.

Unexpectedly, we met by chance while grazing cattle today.

"Okay!" Father Lin was so happy that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear. He picked up leaves and soil around with a hoe.

The matter of herding cattle and sheep was temporarily left to Xiong Ba, and the father and son launched a carpet search here, and finally roughly determined the scope of this boletus.

"It's about five or six square meters in total. How much can we dig?" Father Lin asked curiously.

"Not sure, it depends on how mature it is." Lin Heng said, and the two started digging.

It took half an hour for the two of them to dig almost everything here. They brought nearly a fifty-pound snakeskin bag with them.

There are still some immature Lin Heng left to dig. The two of them will remember this place and can dig again in a few years. Fishing from the lake is the next best option.

"Son, this weighs about thirty kilograms, right?" Father Lin asked, carrying it.

Lin Hengti came over to try it, nodded and said: "It's about the same. It costs ten yuan a pound, and it can be sold for three hundred yuan."

Father Lin grinned from ear to ear and said, "That's great. It's a good time to go out. It seems that our cattle and sheep will bring us wealth."

"It's really worth it." Lin Heng nodded and smiled, then turned back to dig his own yams.

It took him more than an hour to dig out the yam, which was one meter long and as thick as an arm.

This is one of the absolute treasures in the mountains. It can nourish the spleen and stomach, produce body fluids and benefit the lungs, nourish the kidneys and astringent essence. It is an excellent qi-tonifying food.

Unlike farmed yam, this kind of yam grown in the mountains takes a long time to grow and is very soft and glutinous. Basically, it can’t be picked up with chopsticks after being cooked for ten minutes. It tastes fragrant and glutinous.

Those artificially raised yams are usually still hard after being cooked for half an hour, and the taste is not good. There is no comparative value between the two.

Lin Heng cut it into three small sections and put them in a bag, and continued to look for the next yam.

The cattle and sheep were kept until around three o'clock in the afternoon. It was not easy to dig yams. Many of them grew in stone caves. Lin Heng dug out three yams in total, which weighed about fifteen kilograms in total.

Father Lin was not as lucky as him, so he dug four or five kilograms and brought back a few wild lilies. Maybe digging black truffles exhausted his luck.

"Xiongba, driving the cattle home."

Lin Heng shouted from a distance, shook the bell at the same time, and shouted, "Go home and eat grass."

"Woof woof woof!!"

The next moment, the bully drove all the cattle and sheep over with joy. It was simply smarter than the border sheep.

"This kind of dog is great. I think a dog like this can be used to herd cattle and sheep in spring and summer."

Father Lin walked behind and said with emotion, herding cattle has never been so easy.

"It's absolutely fine, but don't let it out and walk around too often." Lin Heng said.

The father and son walked behind, talking and laughing as they walked back. In front of them, there was a bully commanding the cattle and sheep, and no one dared to run around.

"Moo!!"

When they were approaching Hongfeng Mountain, they heard the cry of another big cow and saw another group of cattle herders in the distance.

"It's Jin Yan and his mother." Father Lin recognized them.

In the distance, Jin Yan, mother and daughter, also saw Lin Heng and his son. They were extremely envious of so many cattle and sheep, and were even more surprised that a dominant dog could actually herd cattle.

After getting closer, Jin Yan asked curiously: "How come your cattle and sheep grow so fast?"

His family has a cow that is about the same size as Lin Heng when he bought it. It is also a scalper, but now it is half a head shorter than these Qinchuan scalpers.

"Just feed grass, nothing else." Lin's father responded with a smile. At first, he thought what Lin Heng said was unnecessary. But now, after comparing it, this scientific feeding still makes sense.

The effect of fermented cow grass is good, and you can feed it regularly with food that supplements trace elements. You won’t see the difference in a short time, but it will be obvious after a long time.

"Forget it if you don't tell me, my cow won't grow fast even if it's fed with grass every day." Jin Yan's mother was a little unhappy.

Lin Heng, who was standing next to him, had a normal expression, without any mood swings. When he saw the cow in front of him running away, he smiled and said, "Cousin, your cow ran away."

"Oh, this thing..."

Jin Yan's mother said something and hurriedly ran forward to drive the cattle. Jin Yan glanced at Lin Heng and ran over.

"Son, don't tell me, this grass is very effective when made into green storage." Father Lin said with a smile.

"That's for sure. Later I will buy a machine specifically for making green storage." Lin Heng said with a smile.

While they were joking, the two of them had already arrived at Hongfeng Mountain. Xiongba drove the cattle down, and Lin Heng walked towards the ginseng garden on the 'carpet' of red and yellow leaves.

The ginseng plants had withered long ago. Lin Heng came here mainly to see if there were any wild boars or something like that. He would not care about anything else.

After looking around, he found two damaged areas. Fortunately, the area was not large. He took a knife and blocked the area again.

Then he went to see the bees in the center of the ginseng garden. After the summer and autumn, the honey in the beehive was almost full, and he could find a time to harvest it.

"It will take some time to clean up this cabin and apply some anti-corrosion paint."

After taking a look at the cabin, Lin Heng said to himself that no matter what kind of house it is, it needs regular maintenance.

The reservoir is basically stable. Except for a few deaths at the beginning, the plum fish living in it have not had any problems so far.

This shows that the water quality is suitable and it is not particularly difficult to breed them.

At the foot of the mountain, the cattle and sheep have returned to the cattle pen. The workers are still working and talking about cattle and sheep. Some think it is not cost-effective to open up so much land to grow grass, and some think that raising cattle and sheep is too risky.

When Lin Heng came down, his father was showing off the black truffles he dug to his mother.

"What are you showing off? It's all thanks to my son. I should give him at least half." Lin's mother couldn't stand her husband's arrogant face and said.

"Of course, I will give half to my son." Lin's father said proudly.

"No need, Dad, I'll just take some home to eat." Lin Heng smiled and shook his head. His parents didn't ask him for money, so these were just pocket money.

After taking two kilograms of black truffles, Lin's father gave him the wild lilies he dug and asked him to take them back to Xiaoxia to eat. This thing has the effect of moistening the lungs and relieving coughs.

Lin Heng took the things home and found that the gate of the yard was half open. He walked in with some curiosity and found that a middle-aged woman was talking to Xiulan with a bitter face, and Xiulan looked a little embarrassed.

Seeing Lin Heng, Xiulan's slightly frowned eyebrows immediately relaxed, and she smiled and said, "My husband is back, you talk to him."

"What's the matter?" Lin Heng walked in with something and asked. He knew this middle-aged woman, Aunt Li Yue of the Li family. Strictly speaking, she had some relatives with his family, but he had never met her before.

The middle-aged woman Li Yue looked at Lin Heng and smiled bitterly, "My cousin, it's like this. Your uncle has been in poor health recently, and I want to borrow 20 yuan from your family to see a doctor."

When Lin Heng heard this, he didn't even ask the reason, and shook his head directly, "Then there's nothing I can do. I don't have money to borrow recently."

His words made Li Yue stunned, as if she didn't expect him to refuse so directly. Obviously, he borrowed 50 yuan from Liu Xiancun's house in the village when it collapsed. How could he refuse so directly to borrow 20 yuan when he was related to her?

Li Yue continued, "My cousin, I really have no choice, otherwise I wouldn't have lowered my face to lend you this money. I will only lend you 20 yuan, and I will return it to you within the next year."

"I said I have no money, I can't lend it, you can go find someone else to borrow it." Lin Heng refused again, without any mercy.

Li Yue was stunned, the smile on her face could not be held, and gradually became gloomy. After a long silence, she said, "If you don't have it, forget it, I won't bother you."

After that, she went out in disgrace, and after walking out of the door, she spat fiercely and cursed, "Isn't it just a few stinky money? What's the big deal?"

When she heard the sound of Lin Heng closing the door, she hurriedly left, fearing that Lin Heng would stop her.

Inside the house, Xiulan handed Lin Heng a towel and said, "If you refuse so ruthlessly, she will definitely spread it everywhere and say bad things about us when she goes back."

It was because of this that she didn't know what to do. Twenty is not much, but if she lends it to her today, someone else will come to borrow it the day after tomorrow. She can only say that she can't do it and wait for Lin Heng.

But Lin Heng's direct refusal surprised her.

"Let her say it, the more you spread it, the better, so that other relatives won't come to borrow it. The founding fathers said, "One punch is better than a hundred punches." If you borrow it today, you won't have peace in the future."

Lin Heng waved his hand indifferently. There were so many people in the village who were counting on working under him to make money. With this benefit, plus he had selflessly lent Liu Xiancun 50 yuan before, public opinion would definitely not be what his cousin thought.

Her publicity would only make those who wanted to borrow money stop and give up their thoughts.

"You still see it clearly, I listen to you."

Xiulan smiled brightly, she felt as if everything became simple in Lin Heng's hands.

"That's right." Lin Heng grinned, and took out what he dug to show Xiulan: "I dug yam today, and Dad was lucky. He found black truffles, more than 30 kilograms."

"Then Dad got rich!" Xiulan said in surprise.

"Of course." Lin Heng wiped his face and sat down to warm himself by the fire.

"Dad, I'll give you some sweet potato soup!"

Xiaoxia handed the roasted sweet potato to Lin Heng. She was still coughing when she spoke, and her throat was not well.

The so-called sweet potato soup means sweet potato soup. The sweet potato soup that has been steamed and dried three times is very tough, and it tastes better after being roasted.

"Thank you, baby, I will make you something delicious later." Lin Heng touched her head and said.

"What delicious food?" Xiaoxia asked curiously with her head tilted.

"Honey lily, it's delicious." Lin Heng said.

"Then I want to eat it." Xiaoxia waved her little hand.

"Your rice is heating in the rice cooker, you go and eat it, I'll wash the black truffle." Xiulan looked at him and said.

"No, I'll wash it in two seconds." Lin Heng shook his head, went to pour a basin of water, and quickly washed the black truffle and lily.

The yam is temporarily placed in the kitchen. It can be stored for half a month without water without going bad. I didn't catch any pheasants these two days, so there is nothing to stew.

After washing the lily, peel it into petals, remove the bad ones, add a little water to the remaining ones, and then put honey to cover them.

After he finished his meal and roasted the fire for another two hours, he took a small casserole and poured the covered lily with the soup into the pot.

Stir slowly over low heat until the water evaporates and the lily absorbs the honey and turns into bright yellow dried fruit.

At this time, the lily loses its bitter taste and becomes sweet.

Lin Heng first tasted a petal to make sure it was okay before feeding it to his wife and daughter who were watching next to him.

"It's so sweet~" Xiaoxia said with curved eyebrows.

"It's sweet and a little bitter at the same time, very flavorful." Xiulan was also very satisfied after tasting it.

Lin Heng smiled and said, "Let's eat more. This thing can moisten the lungs and relieve coughs, and calm the mind."

The lilies his father dug weighed three or four pounds in total, and the honey lilies he made weighed more than two pounds. After cooking, there was almost no moisture, and if you couldn't finish them, you couldn't freeze them in the freezer.

After eating the lilies, it was almost dark. In the evening, he steamed three taro in the rice cooker, heated milk, and ate them with hawthorn jam in the bedroom.

Although not much, it was very nutritious.

The next morning was the last day of the Gregorian calendar year 84, and the helpers installed the fence of Hongfeng Mountain in the morning.

These fences are all made of dried trees, with a thickness of about 15 cm. The bark was peeled and the surface was brushed with tung oil. There is no problem using them for four or five years.

The people who helped cut wood also finished their work in the morning. They sawed the wood and piled it in the back mountain, two on Hongfeng Mountain and two on the back mountain of Lin Heng's home. The extra trees were also taken to his eldest brother.

At noon, Lin Heng paid the wages. The last day was counted as one day, and the total cost was only 400 yuan.

In the afternoon, Lin Heng took out the copper hot pot, washed it, took out the mutton from the freezer, cut it into thin slices with a medicine knife, and paired it with the dried mushrooms picked before, and called his parents and family to eat hot pot in the main hall.

In the cold season, it is most appropriate to eat hot pot together, and everyone chatted while eating.

"Son, did you refuse your cousin's request to borrow money yesterday?" Lin's mother asked while eating mutton.

Lin Heng buried his head in eating meat and said vaguely: "Yes."

Lin's mother said again: "Today she told the village about it, spreading everywhere that you are stingy and don't recognize people when you have money. But the strange thing is that no one believes her, thinking that she just wants to take advantage."

Lin's father laughed: "What's so strange about this, unless someone's family doesn't want the opportunity to work."