Era: Started from raising livestock in the mountains

"I haven't decided whether I want to go or not. Brother, if you want to play, you can try it with Old Man Tian and the others first."

Lin looked at his elder brother and said.

"That's okay." Lin Yue nodded.

After a while, the two of them fenced off the ventilated area above the cowshed, then shoveled cow dung into the cowshed and re-layed some straw for the cows to rest.

After taking a look at the condition of the cows, the two closed the fence gate on the back mountain and went home. There was his eldest brother's five black dogs guarding the place, and basically nothing happened.

It was only around four o'clock in the afternoon. The sky was overcast and the air pressure was very low, but there was no sign of rain.

In the backyard, Xiaoxia was looking at her little turtle, and Xiulan was collecting clothes to dry. When she saw Lin Heng coming back, she turned around and asked, "Is everything done?"

"Yes, it's all done." Lin Heng nodded and walked in with an armful of dry firewood.

"There are some dried sweet potatoes hanging out in the front yard. We'll collect them soon. The rain will start to fall no time." Xiulan said, looking at the sky.

"I'll go there in a moment and get some firewood first. I think it will rain for a long time this time." Lin Heng nodded and said.

He carried this bundle of firewood back to the kitchen to stack it, and then went to the back mountain to pick up two more bundles of firewood. It would be hard to live without dry firewood when it rained.

Houshan didn't have enough dry firewood to ask people to help him cut last year, and he had to cut more this winter. I originally thought of trying to build a biogas digester at Hongfeng Mountain, but later I thought it was too troublesome and gave up.

His parents didn't think it was necessary. The most indispensable thing in the countryside was wood. They thought it was good to use firewood.

After finishing the firewood, Lin Heng got some kindling materials and helped collect the dried sweet potatoes.

"Can this dried sweet potato be packed?" Lin Heng looked at it and asked.

"Okay, this is the third time to dry." Xiulan said as she brought a plastic bag.

The dried sweet potatoes that have been steamed and sun-dried for three times are very soft, sweet and delicious when chewed, and have good toughness. While Lin Heng and Xiulan were filling the bags, Xiaoxia's little hands reached out from time to time to catch two to eat.

After drying the sweet potatoes, Lin Heng took a hoe and tidied up the two vacated vegetable fields in the yard, and planted radish, coriander and Chinese cabbage with Xiulan Xiaoxia. Seedlings should emerge after the rain.

Lin Heng also planted some strawberry seedlings next to him. The removed seedlings were planted in the back hill. If they could survive, they would grow. If they couldn't, they would still be alive.

"Dong dong dong~~"

"Brother Lin, open the door!"

Lin Hengdi had just finished planting and returned to the house when Lin Hai's shouts came from outside.

"coming."

Lin Heng was a little confused as to why Lin Hai came here at this time.

When he opened the door, he saw Lin Hai standing at the door holding a gardenia tree with a small ball of soil. When he saw Lin Heng, he smiled and said: "Brother Lin, this is the gardenia tree my mother asked you to dig. When you were threshing millet a few days ago, didn’t you say you wanted to plant a gardenia tree?”

Lin Heng thought for a while before remembering that he had indeed said it before, but he just mentioned it casually because he saw the gardenia trees planted by others.

"I just said casually, but I actually got it. Such a thick tree must have been growing for more than ten years, right?" Lin Heng said a little embarrassed.

The main pole of this gardenia tree has a thick wrist and is obviously an old stake that is more than ten years old. If he hadn't just mentioned it casually before, he would not have given it to his third mother if he had asked for it in person.

Lin Hai grinned and said: "It's from my grandpa's house. He wanted to dig it up a long time ago. It's raining, so my mom asked my dad to dig it up and I brought it over. You can plant it just enough to survive."

"Okay, thank you." Lin Heng patted him on the shoulder, and the two of them walked towards the house.

Xiulan naturally heard the conversation between the two, and went to the backyard to see Lin Heng planting trees.

"Brother Lin, these chrysanthemums you planted bloom beautifully." Lin Hai said in surprise when he walked to the backyard.

Next to Lin Heng's fish pond, two lush clusters of chrysanthemums were blooming, one red and one purple. There were at least two to three hundred flowers.

"I bought this in the city. It was originally very small, but now it has grown up." Lin Heng said with a smile. There are flowers blooming all year round in his small yard.

"Then where is this gardenia tree planted?" Lin Hai asked again.

Lin Heng shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I'll repair it first."

He went to get a small hand saw, looked at the two-meter-high gardenia tree, and sawed it off at about 40 centimeters, leaving only four or five small side branches.

"Did you cut it too hard?" Xiulan said with some pity.

"This is good. It will grow back next year. It was too ugly like before." Lin Heng said with a smile.

If this old pile is not trimmed, it will look too inconsistent with the rest of the backyard. Sawing it will not only ensure its survival, but also trim it into a beautiful gardenia bonsai.

"And the rest won't be wasted, they can all be cut and made alive." Lin Heng added.

He asked Lin Heng to help cut the remaining pieces into 30 centimeter sections. Six sections were cut off the main pole, and nine sections were cut off some thick branches.

If I didn't dislike it too much, I could still saw some.

Lin Heng found a suitable location to plant the old gardenia tree, and wrapped the upper part of the sawed cutting branches with film paper, and then buried the cuttings in the sand.

Gardenia trees live very well. Basically, as long as the sandy soil is kept moist, they will most likely not die.

Lin Heng likes to make some bonsais. The process of transforming trees is very interesting. The most beautiful things in the yard now are the black pine and real cypress.

Lin Heng has transformed it into the desired look through techniques such as hanging, pruning, and wire shaping. At a glance, you can feel a strong and vigorous feeling, with well-proportioned branches and beautiful shapes.

"Brother Lin, I'll leave once I'm done. If it rains, I won't be able to go back." Lin Hai said with a smile.

"Okay." Lin Heng sent him out and brought him two cantaloupes.

After sending him away, he returned to the backyard, cleaned up the branches on the ground, and scooped some water from the fish pond to water the old gardenia tree.

"You can also prune the sugar orange tree, don't let it grow too tall." Xiulan said while feeding the fish. It was also very interesting for her to watch Lin Heng working.

Lin Heng walked over and trimmed the sugar orange tree in the corner, topping and trimming a fighting branch. Next year, the orange tree will definitely bear fruit.

After finishing, the sky began to blow. Lin Heng sat in the pavilion and watched the fish playing on the lotus leaves for a while. Because Xiulan and Xiaoxia often feed them, these koi have grown a lot.

Some small ones were eliminated by carnivorous fish such as giant salamanders and golden catfish. Those who survived are very strong and agile.

After feeding the fish and enjoying the breeze for a while, Xiaoxia crawled into Lin Heng's arms and said coquettishly: "Dad, I'm hungry."

"Then let's go back to the house to cook." Lin Heng nodded, got up and pulled Xiulan into the house together.

"Let's make some pickled cabbage noodles in the afternoon. I feel like eating." Xiulan turned her head and said.

"Okay." Lin Heng went to boil water and cook noodles. He and Xiulan ate pickled cabbage noodles, and Xiaoxia ate noodles with scallion oil.

It was only six o'clock after dinner. There was no sun at all today, and there was no sunset.

The three of them sat in the yard and enjoyed the breeze, playing the after-meal puzzle game Gobang on the stone table.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, there was a huge lightning, and then there was a roar of thunder.

"It looks like it's going to rain." Xiulan looked up and said.

"It's already raining, mom, there's rain on my face."

Xiaoxia pointed at the raindrops on her face.

"Then let's go home."

Lin Heng nodded and put away the Gobang.

When the three of them just walked into the house, it started to drizzle, and then it quickly became heavier, and finally turned into a heavy rain.

In a minute or two, water flowed on the ground, and the rain hit a bubble to form and burst, and the whole world seemed to be covered and washed by a huge net.

The coolness came, and the three of them sat on the sofa to watch the rain. The rain here was still giving face, and it only fell when the crops were almost harvested.

Tired of watching the rain, Lin Heng took a book and read it to Xiaoxia and Xiulan. Xiaoxia held Jinbao on the sofa and listened, and Xiongba and Fengshou, the two dogs, lay on the ground.

Although there was a doghouse, they didn't want to stay there, and preferred to follow people.

Reading until dark, Lin Heng ran with a flashlight to check on the milk and the calf, and made a bowl of corn paste for the cow and fed a bag of silage.

The little cow looked cute now that its hair was dry. It looked at Lin Heng timidly and shrank behind the cow from time to time.

Back in the house, Lin Heng took out the potatoes cooked in the pot, peeled them, and mixed them with jam as a bedtime snack.

After eating, the three of them fell asleep quickly in the sound of continuous rain.

The autumn rain was cold, and it was so cold at night that they needed to cover their whole bodies with quilts.

The rain would obviously not stop early the next morning, so Lin Heng opened the window and stayed in bed with Xiulan to watch the rain.

"Get up, you can drink fresh milk today." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"I haven't drunk fresh milk for a long time, and I really miss it." Xiulan nodded and got up.

After the three of them washed up, Mr. Lin Heng boiled water on the fire, and then took a small bucket to the back mountain to squeeze milk.

He squeezed more than six pounds, and after taking it home and heating it in a water bath, the rich milky aroma came out.

"This fresh one is better than milk powder." Xiulan tasted it and sighed.

"It tastes good~" Xiaoxia drank the warm milk with a squeak.

Fresh milk with an egg and potato pancakes is a perfect breakfast.

After eating, Lin Heng bottled the remaining milk and took it to his parents, and told them the good news that the cow had calved.

"The little cow is good, it can breed more cows." Lin's father was very happy when he heard about it.

"Yes, I will take some silage later." Lin Heng nodded.

After helping his father here for a while, Lin Heng turned around and went home.

For the next five days, the rain kept falling, and the continuous autumn rain made people upset.

In addition to taking care of the cows, Lin Heng also had to pair Xiongba and Laifu these days.

They were both in heat, so Lin Heng locked them in a room for two days before confirming that the pairing was successful.

On the morning of October 7, the moderate rain that had been falling for five days first turned into a drizzle, and then gradually stopped.

There were bursts of fog on the opposite hillside, and the green mountains were as green as emeralds.

"I guess the matsutake mushrooms and morels are out, but it's a pity that we can't go up the mountain to pick them." Xiulan sighed as she sat on the sofa.

She is now in the late stage of pregnancy, and she needs help to stand up because of her big belly. It is impossible for her to go up the mountain.

"I will take some time to go and see you in the afternoon, but I am worried about you being alone in the house." Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and said.

"I will not go out, so I will stay in the house. There is nothing to do. Go and get some matsutake mushrooms and we will make mushroom soup." Xiulan looked at him.

Lin Heng thought for a while and said, "Then I will look for it nearby. The place we went last year was too far away. I don't want to go alone."

"That's fine. Let those places on the mountain grow for a year, and we will go again next year." Xiulan agreed.

After chatting for a while, Lin Heng went to the yard to see that the vegetables planted before the rain had already come out, and the plump seedlings were very pleasing.

Laying lazily on the sofa until noon, the sun came out and dried up a lot of moisture outside.

After making a lunch and eating, Lin Heng took Xiongba to the mountain to look for mushrooms.

He went to Shuijinggou first to look for it, but there was no hope for matsutake mushrooms, and he didn't expect to find morels either.

Just when he was about to go back, he was surprised to find seven or eight red Ganoderma lucidum growing together, which was an unexpected surprise.

Xiongba was not as excited as before today, he didn't play around or cry, it seemed that he was a little weak from mating a few days ago.

After a round, in Shuijinggou, in addition to Ganoderma lucidum, he picked up a few coral mushrooms, and no pine mushrooms.

"Let's go to Hongfeng Mountain." Lin Heng glanced at Xiongba, and instead of going home, he went directly to Hongfeng Mountain from a small path, picking up about a few pine mushrooms along the way.

In fact, there were quite a few mushrooms, but they were all rotten. At this time, there was also a delicious yellow ring scale mushroom in the forest, but it was all infested with worms.

Because he couldn't pick up good mushrooms, Lin Heng also picked up those with worms and took them back to Hongfeng Mountain to feed the pigs.

His mother has also picked up a lot of acorns to feed the pigs these days. The two pigs at home are eating well, and Lin Heng is looking forward to their meat.

Seeing Lin Heng coming back, Xiulan asked curiously: "How was the harvest?"

"I picked up some Ganoderma lucidum, and there are two kilograms of good mushrooms in total." Lin Heng spread his hands and sighed.

"They are all rotten, right?" Xiulan probably guessed that it was difficult to pick mushrooms even on rainy days, and almost all of them would be infested with worms.

"Yes, they are all infested with worms. I picked up more than 30 kilograms of rotten ones and poured them into the pigsty to feed the pigs."

Lin Heng nodded, took another basin and poured the mushrooms into it, saying: "I picked up two matsutake mushrooms, and the others are more mixed."

"Let's make soup with matsutake mushrooms, and stir-fry the rest with bacon." Xiulan said, and asked Lin Heng to pick up the basin and put it on the table for her to help deal with it.

"If you want to go hunting, you can." Xiulan looked at him and said.

Since the last time he came back from looking for ginseng, Lin Heng has never gone into the mountains again, and hunting is near his home.

"No, I'll wait until the leaves fall." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Now is not the best time, and he doesn't want to leave Xiulan.

And he has other things to do next, he has to find a seller for the shrimp again, and take people to the city to clean up the factory.

If he doesn't buy a suitable house for the time being, he plans to clean up the apartment building in the factory and live there temporarily.

"Okay then." Xiulan nodded, still happy in her heart.

"By the way, I also brought you plums, you try them." Lin Heng took out a few orange-yellow wild plums from his pocket.

This is bigger and tastier than the purple-red wild plums.

Xiulan tasted one and said, "This tastes good, didn't you pick a few more?"

"Everyone has picked them all, just these few." Lin Heng spread his hands and said.